The Telangana movement refers to the movement for the separation of Telangana, from the pre-existing state of Andhra Pradesh in India. The new state corresponds to the Telugu-speaking portions of the former princely state of Hyderabad, which were merged with Andhra Pradesh in 1956, leading to the Mulki Agitations.

After decades of protests and agitation, the central government, under the United Progressive Alliance, decided to bifurcate the Andhra Pradesh state and on 2 June 2014, the Union Cabinet unilaterally cleared the bill for the creation of Telangana. Lasting for almost 5 decades, it was one of the longest lasting movements for statehood in South India. On 18 February 2014, the Lok Sabha passed the bill with a voice vote. The bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha two days later, on 20 February. As per the bill, Hyderabad would be the capital of Telangana, while the city would also remain the capital of the residual state of Andhra Pradesh for no more than ten years. Hyderabad was the de jure joint capital. On 2 June 2014, Telangana was created with K. Chandrashekar Rao as its first chief minister.

In December 1953, the States Reorganisation Commission was appointed to prepare for the creations of states on linguistic lines. The commission, due to public demand, recommended disintegration of Hyderabad State and a merge of the Marathi-speaking region with Bombay state and of the Kannada-speaking region with Mysore state. The States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) discussed pros and cons of the merger of Telugu speaking Telangana region of Hyderabad state with Andhra state. Paragraph 374 of the SRC report said "The creation of Vishalandhra is an ideal to which numerous individuals and public bodies, both in Andhra and Telangana, have been passionately attached over a long period of time, and unless there are strong reasons to the contrary, this sentiment is entitled to consideration". Discussing the case of Telangana, paragraph 378 of the SRC report said "One of the principal causes of opposition of Vishalandhra also seems to be the apprehension felt by the educationally backward people of Telangana that they may be swamped and exploited by the more advanced people of the coastal areas who were swamped by people of Tamil Nadu already". In its final analysis SRC recommended against the immediate merger. In paragraph 386 it said "After taking all these factors into consideration we have come to the conclusions that it will be in the interests of Andhra as well as Telangana, if for the present, the Telangana area is to constitute into a separate State, which may be known as the 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 residuary Hyderabad State expresses itself in favor of such unification." The first movement was in Illandu, Khammam district Starting with Polikeka, 1965, 1966 from there Starting from and reaching 1967 Reaching out to universities and students.

Telangana was the largest of the three regions of Andhra Pradesh state, covering 41.47% of its total area. It is inhabited by 40.54% of the state's population. The following is the breakup of Andhra Pradesh's revenue by region:

Note: The income generated by the capital city of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh is a complex issue with income being generated from all regions. This has caused a lot of confusion in region-wise income distribution. Also, after the bifurcation, companies will pay their portion of taxes to Telangana or present day Andhra Pradesh depending on where they operate. Before the bifurcation, many companies paid taxes to capital city Hyderabad for their operations in Seemandhra.

Proponents of a separate Telangana state cite perceived injustices in the distribution of water, budget allocations, and jobs. Within the state of Andhra Pradesh, 68.5% of the catchment area of the Krishna River and 69% of the catchment area of the Godavari River are in the plateau region of Telangana and flowing through the other parts of the state into the Bay of Bengal. Telangana and non-coastal parts of Karnataka and Maharashtra states form Deccan Plateau. Telangana supporters state that 74.25% of irrigation water through the canal system under major irrigation projects goes to the Coastal Andhra region, while Telangana gets 18.20%. The remaining 7.55% goes to the Rayalaseema region.

As per Volume-II of Krishna Water Dispute Tribunal Award, "The area which we are considering for irrigation formed part of Hyderabad State and had there been no division of that State, there were better chances for the residents of this area to get irrigation facilities in Mahboobnagar District. We are of the opinion that this area should not be deprived of the benefit of irrigation on account of the reorganisation of States."

The share of education funding for Telangana ranges from 9.86% in government-aided primary schools to 37.85% in government degree colleges. The above numbers include the expenditure in Hyderabad. Budget allocations to Telangana are generally less than 1/3 of the total Andhra Pradesh budget. There are allegations that in most years, funds allocated to Telangana were never spent. Since 1956, Andhra Pradesh government established 11 new medical colleges in the state. 8 were in Seemandhra and only 3 were in Telangana. Telangana was not compensated for lost opportunities because of inward migration of lot of students into Hyderabad from Seemandhra.