Hyderabad, october 08: Members of the Congress Action Committee For Telangana (CAFT) today asserted that their programme (martyrs’ memorial meeting) to extend financial assistance of Rs.One lakh each to family members of those who died for Telangana cause was neither an ‘Odarpu nor a political Yatra’, but an ‘assistance yatra’.
Talking to newsmen on the Assembly premises here, CAFT leaders B Kamalakar Rao, MLC S Indrasain Reddy, MLA T Rajaiah, Sammi Reddy and others claimed that the meeting was planned for a noble cause and was taken up on behalf of the Congress party to extend financial help to the kin of the Telangana martyrs.
The CAFT leaders informed that their next meeting would be held at Mancherial in Adilabad district on October 10 to provide assistance to about 30 families.
Earlier, assistance was provided to about 64 families at Karimnagar on October 2. Senior Telangana Congress leaders who included ministers, MPs, MLAs, MLCs and others would leave for Mancherial by Telangana Express from Secunderabad and enroute would interact with local people at Aleru, Jangoan, Ghanpur, Kazipet and Peddapalli, they said.
Replying to a query, MLA Rajaiah claimed that the Telangana Congress leaders were agitating on separate Telangana issue despite knowing that their party was in power. “We (Telangana Congress) will strive till the Centre introduces the Telangana Bill in parliament. I feel that TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu is not an obstruction to Telangana formation since his party (TDP) has lost everything in the region,” he remarked.
–Agencies