Opinion January 7, 1983, Forty Years Ago: Congress (I) loses control of two states in the South

The ruling Congress (I) lost control of its two southern strongholds, suffering humiliating defeat at the hands of the nine-month-old Telugu Desam in Andhra Pradesh and conceding the first place to the Janata Ranga combine in Karnataka. In Tripura, the CPI-M led left front has retained power winning an absolute majority. The Congress (I) has lost, for the first time, sole power in the entire southern region.

Congress routed: Andhra Pradesh will have the first non-Congress government since its formation 26 years ago with N T Rama Rao’s Telugu Desam securing absolute majority. Belying all expectations, the ruling Congress (I) suffered a near total rout in its bastion at the hands of the nine-month-old regional party in the seventh elections to the state assembly.

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J&K polls soon: Jammu and Kashmir is most likely to go to polls by the end of May. Sources close to Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah confirmed that he had directed the finance and planning departments to go ahead with preparations for a full budget session to begin by the last week of February.

Protesting elections: The police went into action all over Assam, arresting nearly 100 student activists, including 20 in Gauhati, while the All Gauhati Students Union gave a call for 24-hour “Gauhati Bandh” and a torchlight procession at 5am just as All India Radio announced the Election Commission’s decision to hold elections in the state. Simultaneously, an IAF AN-12S and fairchild Packet aircraft disgorged fresh reinforcements of the CRPF at the Borjhar airport near Gauhati.