Hyderabad, March 08: The decision to scale down the Million March by Telangana separatist groups scheduled for this Thursday was not without its drama. The TJAC steering committee meeting that took place to address concerns expressed by students taking the Intermediate exams withnessed a heated discussion among the constituents of the coalition over whether or not to defer the march.
According to sources, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) represented by its leaders Etela Rajender and Nayani Narasimha Reddy, argued against holding the Million March. They contended that the police were in an aggressive mood and that might trigger a law and order problem. Since the police are preparing to stop vehicles coming into the city on Thursday, there was also the likelihood of agitators not being able to make it to the march.
But the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), represented by T Rajeshwara Rao, was firm that the march should go ahead at any cost. The saffron party leader insisted that cancellation now would send out a wrong signal both to the Centre and to people in the region.
Rajeshwara Rao pointed out that the calling off of the noncooperation movement by Telangana government employees last week was a mistake as people were beginning to attribute motives to that decison. If now the Million March were to be deferred too, it would do damage the Telangana movement, he argued. Another JAC constituent CPIML (New Democracy) supported the BJP’s argument.
TJAC chairman Prof M Kodandaram, then consulted TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao and finally took a middle course: scale down the march so that students taking the exams would not be put to inconvenience.
–Agencies