Hyderabad, February 28: The Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC) and Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) are planning to lay siege to Hyderabad on March 10 which, they say, will be the final and decisive push for Telangana state.
The ‘Chalo Hyderabad’ march will begin on March 9 with people moving from all parts of Telangana to Hyderabad, and on March 10 they will besiege the city.
TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday said his party would mobilise at least five lakh people from across Telangana who would lay siege to the state capital by blocking all roads, enforcing a total shutdown. “We will not allow ministers and government employees to reach the secretariat. There will be a complete siege to the place. The siege of the state capital will bring not only Hyderabad but the entire state to a halt and force the Centre to take a call on Telangana,” he added.
The Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC), comprising Osmania University students and leaders, plans to mobilise at least one lakh students to lead the siege.
JAC convenor Prof M Kodandaram announced that they would lay siege first to the secretariat and Assembly and then would cover the entire city. “The protesters will block all roads; nothing can come in or go out, not until the Central government agrees to form a separate state. This will be the biggest-ever gathering for Telangana. In the run-up to the siege will we start an indefinite strike from March 5,” he said.
Both TRS and TJAC maintained they had chalked out plans to force MLAs and MPs of the Congress and TDP from Telangana to join them. “The non-cooperation movement will intensify once again from March 1 and will include not only state government employees but also lawyers and teachers,” KCR said.
Telangana Telugu Desam Party Forum convenor Nagam Janardhan Reddy and BJP’s state unit president G Kishan Reddy said they would lend support to the siege.
The siege is likely to affect the final exams scheduled to start from March 5.
“We are taking that into consideration. There might be a slight change of plan in case exams are going to be affected. We do not want students to suffer,” said Chandrashekhar Rao. Intermediate exams are slated to be held from March 10, engineering and medical exams from March 5, and SSC exams from March 24.
The State Board for Secondary Education said it was considering pre-poning the exams but that would leave students very little time to prepare. “School managements and junior college managements are also worried that postponing exams would affect students planning to appear for all-India entrance exams,” an official said.
Courtesy: Indianexpress