The battle of Palnadu (1182) resulted in the weakening of the Eastern Chalukya dynasty and led to the emergence of the Kakatiya dynasty in the 12th and 13th centuries CE. The Kakatiyas were at first vassals of the Rashtrakutas, and ruled over a small territory near Warangal. Eventually all the Telugu lands were united by the Kakatiyas. In 1323 CE, Delhi Sultan Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq sent a large army under Ulugh Khan to conquer the Telugu country and captured Warangal. King Prataparudra was taken prisoner. Musunuri Nayaksrecaptured Warangal from the Delhi Sultanate in 1326 CE and ruled for fifty years. Inspired by their success, the Vijayanagara Empire, one of the greatest empires in the history of Andhra Pradesh and India, was founded by Harihara and Bukka, who served as treasury officers of the Kakatiyas of Warangal.^[14] In 1347 CE, an independent Muslim state, the Bahmani Sultanate, was established in south India by Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah in a revolt against the Delhi Sultanate. The Qutb Shahi dynasty held sway over the Andhra country for about two hundred years from the early part of the 16th century to the end of the 17th century.^{[citation needed]} In Colonial India, Northern Circars became part of the British Madras Presidency. Eventually this region emerged as the Coastal Andhra region. Later the Nizamrulers of Hyderabad ceded five territories to the British which eventually emerged as Rayalaseema region. The Nizams retained control of the interior provinces as the Princely state of Hyderabad, acknowledging British rule in return for local autonomy. Meanwhile, the Frenchoccupied Yanam, in the Godavari delta, and (save for periods of British control) would hold it until 1954.

India became independent from the United Kingdom in 1947. The Nizam wanted to retain the independence of the Princely Hyderabad State from India, but the people of the region launched a movement to join the Indian Union. The state of Hyderabad was forcibly joined to the Republic of India with Operation Polo in 1948.

In an effort to gain an independent state based on the lingustic and protect the interests of the Andhra (telugu speaking) people ofMadras State, Potti Sreeramulu fasted until death in 1952. After his death, Andhra attained statehood on 1 November 1953, with Kurnoolas its capital.^[15]

On 1 November 1956, the States Reorganization Act merged the Telugu-speaking areas of the former Hyderabad state with the Telugu-speaking areas of the former Madras state to form the state of Vishalandhra, which is named as Andhra Pradesh.^[6] The city ofHyderabad, the former capital of the Hyderabad State, was made the capital of the new state. There were several movements to disintigrate Andhra Pradesh into two States viz. Andhra and Telengana in the late 1960 which are continuing till date.

See also: Andhra State and Vishalandhra Movement

On 9 December 2009, it was announced that a separation proposal for Telangana would be introduced to the state assembly.^[16]Controversy arose as to the future status of Hyderabad City, part of one of the ten districts of Telangana region.^[17] This move was opposed by protesters from Kosta and Rayalaseema regions. On 23 December 2009, the government decided to put the decision of bifurcating the state on hold until a consensus is achieved among the different political parties. This agitated supporters of a separate Telangana state.^[18] On 5 January 2010, the Central Government represented by Home Minister P Chidambaram conducted a meeting by inviting all the recognised political parties of AP and recorded their stand on the issue. The Government of India appointed a committee, headed by B. N. Srikrishna, to guide the central government to settle the issue of Telangana amicably.^[19] The committeesubmitted its report on 30 December 2010, a day before its term was to expire.^[20]

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