Hyderabad, October 04: In what could change the political landscape of Telangana, currently dominated by TRS, balladeer and folk artist Gummadi Vithal Rao, better known as Gaddar, on Sunday announced a new party, Telangana Praja Front. It will be formally launched on October 9 in Hyderabad.
The Front, which is expected to try to wrest control of the Telangana movement from the TRS, is not just a political party, Gaddar said.
“Time and again it has been proved that only people’s movements succeed, not political parties. We are not going to wait for Srikrishna Committee to submit its report. We are going back to the people to start the movement again as political parties have never achieved such objectives,” he said, in an apparent reference to TRS.
The Front, sources said, took shape after a meeting of Backward Class leaders and trade and employee unions of Telangana, who though active in the Telangana movement have kept away from the TRS. It plans to build a constituency by rallying Dalits, Backward Classes and students.
A vocal supporter of the Telangana students’ agitation, Gaddar staged shows, where he sang revolutionary songs, on Osmania University campus. In fact, it was he who united the various students’ union factions.
Gaddar’s decision to launch a party, analysts say, shows that there is division within the Telangana movement. “It clearly indicates that there is a division between those who are driven by ideology and those by politics. People like Gaddar, who have long stoked the fires of revolutionary movement, do not agree with the politics over Telangana,” said political commentator Vijay Kumar.
In an apparent attempt to undermine TRS, Gaddar claimed the Centre’s decision to start the process of creating a Telangana state by appointing the Justice Srikrishna Committee was the result of a people’s movement.
However, his party, Gaddar added, would not wait for the Srikrishna Committee report, but would go back to people to restart the fight for Telangana.
“Everyone knows nothing has come out of Fazal Ali or Pranab Mukherjee committees. Telangana can be achieved only through a people’s movement and we intend to start it now,” he said. “The Front will lead the people’s movement for Telangana and pressurise political parties to force their central leaders to introduce a bill in Parliament for the formation of a Telangana state.”
——–Agencies