Hyderabad, January 20: After a brief lull, the Telangana movement picked up steam again on Tuesday with the alleged suicide of an MCA student on the Osmania University campus.
And, legislators from the region are back under the hammer.
The Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Telangana leaders from all political parties held an emergency meeting at a hotel here in Vidyanagar soon after news of the student’s death spread and decided to advance its ‘‘deadline’’ for all public representatives in the region to resign, from Jan 28 to Jan 20. The JAC also decided to bring pressure on Speaker N Kiran Kumar Reddy to accept T legislators’ resignations from Thursday.
But apparently keen on staying one step ahead of the others, Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) MLAs marched to Kiran Kumar Reddy’s residence demanding that their resignations be accepted. They also staged a demonstration at his residence only to be arrested by the police. They were later let off.
At the JAC meeting, Congress MLA R Damodar Reddy offered to press for the acceptance of his resignation straight away. But the JAC leadership wanted everyone to follow a collective decision. Damodar Reddy insisted on upping the ante as the MCA student belonged to Suryapet in Nalgonda district, which he represents in the Assembly.
The JAC, by another decision, supported Wednesday’s bandh call given by students. It appealed to students not to end their lives since political parties were leading the agitation.
After the meeting, the JAC leaders visited the Osmania University campus where students picked up an argument with them over the course of the agitation.
Meanwhile, late in the night, some unidentified persons set afire a private bus at Nizampet.
Fire tenders were rushed to the spot from Sanathnagar to put out the fire.
——–Agencies