Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted the people of Telangana and its culture on Telangana Formation Day on Friday.

He said in his tweet that the state, which came into being on June 2, 2014 by bifurcating the erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh, is known for its pleasant weather and the richness of its culture which are greatly admired as well. The PM prayed for the well-being and prosperity of the state.

Telangana assumes significance for the BJP since it is pushing to come to power in the state which has been under the Bharat Rashtra Samithi government under KCR for two terms. The Assembly election is due to be held in the last months of 2023 for 119 seats. So far, the BRS has dominated the state, even winning over MLAs who won on tickets of other parties, including the Congress. The BRS, which was earlier the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, is at the forefront of a non-BJP, non-Congress de factor coalition and has national plans.

In the 2018 election, the BRS formed a government in Telangana by winning 88 seats bettering its previous best of 63 in 2013. The Congress came a distant second with 19 seats. The BRS ally, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen of Asaduddin Owaisi, was third with seven seats. The AIMIM is led by Owaisi’s brother Akbaruddin. The BJP has significant influence in Hyderabad via MLA T Raja Singh has a strong following among Hindu voters in the Old City.

In Telangana, the opposition led by the Congress, Telangana Jana Samithi, the Telugu Desam Party, and the Communist Party of India have announced the formation of a grand alliance, the MahaKootami. The Congress has said that it would leave 25 seats for its allies, 14 to the TDP, 8 to the Telangana Jana Samithi and three seats to the CPI. This alliance plans to defeat the current KCR-led BRS government in the state. The BJP is contesting the elections alone in the state. 

The BJP’s Telangana plans have been eclipsed by the defeat in the Karnataka Assembly election. Winning Karnataka was essential to mount a strong campaign in Telangana but the national party is far from throwing in the towel. Eking out a victory in Telangana can balance the loss in Karnataka but will a top heavy campaign like in Karnataka help the cause, remains to be seen.

The BJP has found that the politics in Southern India is different from politics in the Hindi belt. The voters in the south heed their immediate local issues and understand politic equations well. People lack faith in the national party when it comes to state elections, if we look at the data from southern India of their political preference, most states are ruled by regional parties, even if Kerala is ruled by the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front.

Telangana was part of the princely state of Hyderabad ruled by the Nizams. It became part of the Union of India in 1948. In 1956, the state of Hyderabad was dissolved and the 33 districts that comprise Telangana were merged with the state of Andhra Pradesh. The demand for Telangana had picked up in the 1990s and the consequent struggle ended on June 2, 2014 when the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre announced the creation of the state of Telangana.

In yet another tragic case of student suicide, at least eight students died by suicide in Telangana, while two others made a bid on their lives, since the results of their intermediate school exams (Class 11-12), were declared on Tuesday.

According to reports, five of eight deceased belonged to Telangana capital Hyderabad while the others were residents of from Nizambad, Wanaparthy and Jagtial.

They said the four of the deceased were girls and the two students who attempted suicide, were also females.

The reported suicide bids came from Sangareddy and Wanaparthy areas of Telangana.

In a similar incident, in April, as many as nine Class 11 and Class 12 students reportedly died by suicide in Andhra Pradesh within 48 hours of their exam results being announced.

According to reports at the time, nine students committed suicide within 48 hours, while two more made unsuccessful bids at their lives, since the results of class 11 and 12 were declared by the Andhra Pradesh Board of Intermediate Examination.

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Media reports quoting police officials said that 17-year-old B Tarun, a Class 11 student, committed suicide by jumping in front of a moving train in Srikakulam district.

The deceased, a resident of Dandu Gopalapuram village of Srikakulam district, had failed in most of his subjects and was reportedly depressed after the results came out.

Similarly, another class 11 student, 16-year-old A Akhilasree, died by suicide at her home Trinadhapuram under Malkapuram police station limits in Visakhapatnam district after the results were announced and she had failed in some subjects.

In another incident, an 18-year-old Class 12 student hanged himself to death at his house in Visakhapatnam’s Kancharapalem locality after the results revealed that he had failed in one of the subjects.

In the state’s Chittoor district, two 17-year-old students—a boy and a girl, both studying in Class 11—committed suicide after failing in the exams. While the boy ingested poison and died, the girl ended her life by jumping into a lake and died by drowning, reports said.

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The family of a man, who died while lodged at a police station in Secunderabad, have alleged that the deceased was tortured by the cops in custody, reports said.

According to report, the deceased, identified as Chiranjeevi, a resident of Secunderabad’s LB Nagar, was arrested by the police in a theft case and lodged in the Tukaramgate Police Station.

They said the inmate complained of illness on Tuesday and was taken by the cops to a hospital where doctors declared him dead.

Chiranjeevi’s family alleged that he was tortured in custody by the police, resulting in his demise. The family members of the deceased victim staged a protest outside the office of DCP (north), seeking a probe into the man’s death.

A senior police official said the body of the deceased has been sent for a post-mortem examination at the Gandhi Hospital mortuary to ascertain the cause of death and an inquiry has been ordered to probe the incident.

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In a similar incident, in February this year, a man in Hyderabad’s Medak, who was arrested on suspicion of theft, died of injuries he allegedly suffered due to custodial torture by the cops at the Medak Police Station.

Before his death, the man, identified as 35-year-old Mohammad Khadeer Khan, had narrated his ordeal in a video shared on social media in which accused the police of brutally thrashing him with sticks. The man claimed that the cops viciously beat him for five days before letting him go.

The victim’s wife had told newsmen that the cops picked up her husband from his sister’s home in in Hyderabad on January 27 and then subjected him to third-degree torture while in custody.

Kadeer, a daily wage worker, was in police custody for five days, and upon his release, the cops had allegedly warned him of dire consequences if he told anyone about the torture.

The victim, who was hospitalized after his release, had reportedly suffered multiple injuries, including fractures, dislocated spine and renal failure due to alleged beatings by the police. He succumbed to his injuries on the morning of February 17.

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