Hyderabad, June 10: “Why obstruct the TDP’s Telangana Ranabheri at Tandur when you can avoid it?” senior Telugu Desam Party leader Devender Goud questioned Telangana leaders on Thursday.
Mr Devender Goud told media persons at the NTR Trust Bhavan that the Telangana leaders, especially those belonging to the TRS and the Telangana Political Joint Action Committee, would be better off maintaining their distance from the TDP’s Telangana Ranabheri to be held at Tandur in Ranga Reddy district on Friday, if they were against it rather than obstructing it.
“If they do not want to extend their cooperation, they can avoid the meeting. They cannot obstruct it,” he said.
Mr Devender Goud, one of the first TDP leaders who raised the separate Telangana statehood issue by resigning from the party and launching his own Nava Telangana Praja Party, warned Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhar Rao and Telangana Political Joint Action Committee convener Kodandaram that they would be held responsible for any untoward incidents arising out of their stated intent to obstruct the Telangana Ranabheri.
Incidentally, Mr Devender Goud had merged his Nava Telangana Praja Party with the Praja Rajyam Party, which itself stands on the threshold of being merged in the Congress.
Another TDP leader Kadiam Srihari alleged that TPJAC has become the mouthpiece of TRS and has failed to unite the disparate Telangana protagonists to make collective efforts towards achieving separate Telangana state.
Mr Srihari questioned the TPJAC why it was not targeting Seemandhra leaders, including Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and Union Minister of State for Human Resources D Purandareswari when they were addressing meetings in Telangana.
“Why they are showing discrimination on TDP leaders from the region who are working for Telangana sincerely. The TDP’s stand on Telangana is clear, but the TPJAC is still targeting us,” Mr Srihari pointed out.
“This is not fair,” he complained, adding that the TRS should divert its energies against the integrationists rather than those parties fighting for Telangana. “They should mend their way,” he added.
TDP Telangana Forum convener Errabelli Dayakar Rao challenged the TRS and Congress leaders to a discussion on the allegations that the TDP is cheating the people of the region, at any time and place of their choosing.
Reacting on the Congress MPs meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh later in the day, Mr Dayakar Rao said that the meeting would not serve any purpose.
——–Agencies