Hyderabad, January 01: Telangana agitation is not in the hands of either TRS/CONGRESS/TDP Telangana leaders now it seems it has gone beyond their hands, if nothing concrete comes out of 5th January meeting its will the turn of congress ministers who will face the public wrath.
Only time will tell whether the issue of Telangana will give benefit to which party but all the Telangana leaders who fought for Telangana is now tainted in the eyes of today student leaders.
A new breed of Telangana leadership is coming up from amongst the students who are passionate about Telangana and cannot be purchased by anyone, Ten ministers from the Telangana region faced public anger for withdrawing their resignations after the Centre invited eight political parties to Delhi for talks on statehood. Protestors are so furious that they have vowed not to let the ministers enter their constituencies.
Congress ministers should expect the same treatment which was given to TDP Telangana leaders like Janardhan Reddy and Devender Goud.
Agitators gathered outside irrigation Minister P. Lakshmaiah’s house in Warangal on Thursday and were poised to strike but police stopped them. A day after the home ministry invited representatives of eight political parties to Delhi on January 5 for a formal discussion on the Telangana issue, all the 12 ministers from Telangana, who had submitted their resignations, decided to take them back.
After a prolonged meeting with the Pradesh Congress Committee president D Srinivas and a telephonic conversation with Union law minister Veerappa Moily, the ministers decided to join the cabinet.
“The fact that the Centre has begun discussing Telangana proves that it is committed about statehood. We are taking our resignations back,” information minister J Geeta Reddy said. “But, if something goes wrong after the January 5 meeting, we will not hesitate to resign. As ministers from the region we are committed for Telangana,” another minister J Krishna Rao said.
However, the decision sparked widespread protest in the region and led students to label the ministers “traitors”. The convener of the all-party joint action committee (JAC), professor Kodandaram, too termed the ministers’ decision ‘unfortunate’.
Seeing the public mood, IT minister K Venkat Reddy and higher education minister D Sridhar Babu said they would not withdraw their resignations.
Meanwhile, the parties which will attend the January 5 meet are busy doing their homework. Each party has been asked to nominate two representatives for the meeting. With most parties unable to speak in one voice on Telangana, identifying speakers who can offer a balanced and accurate view to the Centre is becoming difficult.