Andhra State

Paragraph 382 of the SRC report dated 30 September 1955 said, "opinion in Andhra is overwhelmingly in favour of the larger unit, public opinion in Telangana has still to crystallize itself. Important leaders of public opinion in Andhra themselves seem to appreciate that the unification of Telangana with Andhra, though desirable, should be based on a voluntary and willing association of the people and that it is primarily for the people of Telangana to make a decision about their future".

While the Fazal Ali commission emphasizes the necessity and benefits Visalandhra, the report suggests that the process of merging may only be done after 5 years. In Paragraph 386, it states, "...for the present the Telangana area is to constitute into a separate State, which may be known as Hyderabad State with provision for its unification with Andhra after the general elections likely to be held in or about 1961 if by a two-thirds majority the legislature of the residency Hyderabad State expresses itself in favor of such unification".

Paragraph 387 goes on to say that the advantage of this arrangement will be that while the objective of the unification of the Andhras will neither be blurred nor impeded during a period of five or six years, the two governments may have stabilized their administrative machinery and, if possible, also reviewed their land revenue systems, etc., the object in view being the attainment of uniformity. The intervening period may incidentally provide an opportunity for allaying apprehensions and achieving the consensus of opinion necessary for a real union between the two States.[8]

From the content of Paragraph 387, the commission's main objective was to attain uniformity by achieving adequate administrative machinery and proper land review systems in the recently formed Andhra State and the new State of Hyderabad being formed and this duration could also be incidentally utilized for gaining consensus opinion for the merger of the two states. In line with SRC opinion, the elected leaders of both states decided for an immediate merger by achieving consensus by two-thirds majority strength in both assemblies of these states.

The Hyderabad chief minister, in his letter to the INC president, said Communist parties supported the merger for their political calculations. The Hyderabad PCC chief said the overwhelming majority of INC party members opposed the merger, that Communists were elected in special circumstances in 1951, that Visalandhra was not a political issue in 1951, and that the Assembly does not reflect the people's view on the issue. He also said 80% of INC delegates who were elected in 1955 opposed the merger. The government had to provide additional security for Communist leaders who supported the Visalandhra.[9]

In the Hyderabad Assembly, on 3 December 1955, 147 of 174 MLAs expressed their view. 103 (including Marathi and Kannada MLAs) supported the merger, 16 were neutral, and 29 opposed it. Among Telangana MLAs, 59 supported the merger and 25 opposed it. Out of 94 Telangana MLAs in the assembly, 36 were Communists (PDF), 40 were INC, 11 were Socialist party (SP), and 9 were independents. Voting did not take place on the resolution because Telangana proponents insisted on including the phrase "As per the wishes of people" in the resolution.[10][11]

To convince the leadership of Telangana to join the new state, an agreement was reached between the leaders of both sides. This came to be known as the Gentlemen's agreement. The agreement allowed the formation of the State of Andhra Pradesh in 1956, against the SRC's recommendations of waiting until 1961 to get the approval of 2/3 of Telangana State assembly after the 2 cycles of elections in Telangana State.