Telangana turmoil: Jagan to spend Thursday in emergency ward of NIMS

YSR Congress chief Jagan Mohan Reddy, who has been given fluids at the Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) here, after being taken into preventive custody late last night, will spend Thursday in the hospital's emergency ward.

"Last night, when they got him here, the doctors were saying that the ketones had reached the maximum highest level at 180 or something. They had told me and the sugar had come to 50. Last night, they administered some IV fluids. Now, they have taken the blood for the blood test in the morning," Reddy's wife Y.S. Bharati told media here today.

"They said definitely not today because the ketones levels have to come down. So, that they will test again tomorrow morning and then they will decide," she added, when asked as to when would Jagan be discharged.

Reddy, who was forcibly shifted here last night amid concerns about his health, was severely dehydrated and had low levels of sugar. He, however, refused to end his fast.

Expressing deep anguish over the arbitrary bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, Reddy had earlier blamed Congress President Sonia Gandhi for the 'crisis' in the state and accused her of exploiting sentiments of people to pave way for Rahul Gandhi to become the Prime Minister.

"Sonia Gandhi is responsible for the crisis in the state and she has been playing with the sentiments of the people with the singular motive of seeing to it that her son Rahul Gandhi is made Prime Minister," he said.

He further appealed to Sonia Gandhi to reconsider the decision, as creating a new state would badly affect the future generations of one region.

"The division is arbitrary in nature and does not address all issues that are bound to crop up after the bifurcation," he said.

"The motive of the division could be political but Delhi cannot play with the sentiments of the people of one region. I once again appeal to the Centre to roll back its decision on division," he said, adding that BJP should also take a call on the issue and stand up for a united state.

Meanwhile, the power crisis continues in Seemandhra region as talks between the Andhra Pradesh Government and striking non-gazetted employees failed yesterday.

The reconstituted Group of Ministers (GoM) looking into bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh will hold its maiden meeting tomorrow. To be chaired by Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, the GoM has not been set any deadline, as against the six-week timeframe envisaged earlier.

The Central Government had earlier on Tuesday reorganized the GoM, cutting its strength from 10 to seven ministers.

The members now include Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Defence Minister A.K. Antony, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Veerappa Moily and Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh. Minister of State for Personnel V. Narayanasamy shall be a special invitee.

On October 3, the Union Cabinet had decided to go ahead with the process for the creation of a separate Telangana state carved out from Andhra Pradesh.