Telangana row: Students pelt stones, netas wait in agony

Hyderabad, July 07: Pro-Telangana students clashed with police at Osmania University campus on Wednesday, the second day of the 48-hour bandh called by Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC).

Trouble started when the police stopped the students from undertaking a protest-march from the campus to Gun Park (Martyrs’ Memorial).

Students hurled stones at the police near the NCC Gate on the campus, and the latter responded by firing teargas shells. “The protesters are forcibly trying to defy the ban orders,” deputy commissioner of police (East Zone) Y Gangadhar said.

Students claim that they were “showered” with rubber bullets.

The Osmania University authorities have postponed all examinations that were scheduled to commence on Thursday. A fresh date of the exams will be announced later.

Meanwhile in Delhi, the nine Congress MPs from AP who resigned two days ago, were a jittery lot as the party high command refused to commit on the controversy. The MPs now say the Centre is trying to isolate them.

The Congress has made it clear that its priority was to save the Kiran Kumar Reddy government in AP.

Pro-Telangana students held placards and blocked a road in Hyderabad

The pro-Telangana leaders had rounds of negotiations with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad, and Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel. But, they all refused to oblige when the leaders requested for a time frame for the Telangana talks.

A Congress leader from the Telangana region said, “Lok Sabha MPs are not a priority. The party is already shopping for extra support. Pranab Mukherjee told one of us that we can always get re-elected.”

Congress Working Committee member Shakeel Ahmed said Gandhi met RJD chief Lalu Prasad, who has four MPs, on Tuesday. Lalu could be inducted into the government.

–Agencies