Hyderabad: 2014 was an emotional and a historic year for Telangana as the long-cherished dream of the land-locked region for a separate statehood finally became a reality after a long struggle.
On June 2, Telangana became the country's 29th state but not before its share of suspense and controversies as skeptics and die-hard supporters debated for months as to whether the division would be clinched at all given the sharp division among the political class over the bifurcation of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.
2014 was indeed a watershed year in the history of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh as it was bifurcated though the residuary state (post formation of Telangana) retains the old name.
The turbulence and tumult witnessed in Andhra Pradesh in 2013 continued in the early part of 2014 with the then Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, who vehemently opposed his party's decision to divide the state, quitting his post and also Congress.
Capping months of tumult in and outside Parliament and an alleged TV blackout, the Lok Sabha approved the bill for formation of Telangana on February 18. The passage of the bill had unprecedented events like an MP using pepper spray on the floor of the House in an attempt to scuttle it.
