Police fires tear gas shells at agitating students in Hyderabad

Police fired tear gas shells at students, who were demonstrating for the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in Hyderabad on Monday.

Students from Osmania University clashed with police and pelted stones at them. Students were trying to lead a protest march to the Andhra Pradesh state assembly, but were prevented from doing so by the police.

"As a student community, we will take it to the forefront, and we will not rest till the Telangana Bill is sent away from Andhra Pradesh to parliament," said student leader of Osmania University M. Krishank.

President Pranab Mukherjee, on the advice of the government, had sent the bill, which provides for creation of Telangana by bifurcating Andhra Pradesh, to the state Assembly for approval.

The demonstrators alleged that Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy was trying to stop the bill, as he was against it.

"Kiran Kumar Reddy is trying to stop this Telangana Bill here. We are warning Kiran Kumar Reddy that he doesn't have any moral right to be the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. He should step down," Krishank added.

The union cabinet has approved the creation of a new Telangana state, but the Andhra Pradesh Government is against it.

The decision to break up Andhra Pradesh and establish a new state of Telangana comes ahead of upcoming general elections, and critics say the Congress party is seeking to shore up its political fortunes after dragging its feet over the explosive issue for four decades.

The proposal was received with mixed emotions across the state, with various politicians starkly opposing the bifurcation.

Supporters, however, say Telangana's economic development has been neglected in favour of the richer and more powerful Andhra region, and that a new state is the only solution.

Hyderabad, India's sixth largest city was a bone of contention because it fell in the proposed new state carved out of the western part of Andhra Pradesh.