Hyderabad, July 19: Leaders of the Telugu Desam Party in Hyderabad on Sunday lambasted Chief Minister K Rosaiah for trying to save his seat while the livelihood of lakhs of farmers in Telangana was at stake.
Talking to media persons, TDP leaders, Payyavula Keshav, E Peddireddy, Dadi Veerabhadra Rao and Varla Ramaiah said that Mr Rosaiah was more interested in punishing his detractors than he was concerned about the Babli issue.
The TDP leaders said that if the work on the Babli project was not stopped immediately, then over 18 lakh acre of land in five districts would turn barren.
The TDP leaders said that Mr Rosaiah should have used his good offices with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to solve the issue immediately. They added that instead of doing so, Mr Rosaiah was busy with petty state politics and getting his party leaders suspended.
The TDP leaders said that both the Central and state governments were silent even as a former chief minister and Leader of Opposition was treated in the most inhuman manner possible.
They then then called for a bandh in the state on Monday in protest against the arrest of its president N Chandrababu Naidu along with 74 party members at Dharmabad by Maharashtra police.
Senior party leader Payyavula Keshav said that the decision to call for a state-wide bandh came after the party leadership spoke to Mr Naidu on telephone. Mr Naidu is presently under a two-day judicial custody and lodged at an IIT college in Maharashtra.
Mr Keshav also blamed Major Irrigation Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah by saying that he was only interested to act if something personally benefits him.
He said that Mr Lakshmaiah is least bothered about the disaster which would follow if the Babli project is allowed to be completed.
The TDP leaders appealed to the entire political spectrum to join it and see to it that the bandh call is met with complete success. They also said that the Left party has announced that they would support the band call.
———INN