Hyderabad, December 05: A bid to build pressure on the ruling Congress and by way showing solidarity with their leader K Chandrasekhar Rao, two Telangana Rashtra Samithi MLAs — N Odelu (representing Chennur Assembly constituency in Adilabad district) and K Eshwar (Dharmapuri in Karimnagar) today began an indefinite fast at the TRS Legislature Party (TRSLP) office on the Assembly premises.
However, the 11-hour long suicide threat by TRS MLAs came to an end in the night after the police forced open the doors and took them into custody.
Taking the MLAs and the anxious media by surprise, police switched off lights within the vicinity of the TRSLP office at around 10 p.m.
In the pitch darkness, police stormed into the room breaking open the doors and took the two legislators into custody preventing them from taking any extreme step.
Within 20 minutes, the drama came to an end. The police shifted the legislators out of the Assembly premises avoiding the media.
Arriving on the premises around 11:30 a.m., the two MLAs headed straight for the TRSLP office and immediately locked the doors.
Meanwhile, their followers apprised the media of the developments.
The legislators said they would not withdraw their hunger strike until the two demands they put before the Government were met, namely, the passage of a resolution for the formation of Telangana State on the first day of the coming winter session on December 7 and the fulfilling of the promise made by the Congress-led UPA Government on Telangana.
Talking to mediapersons through the windows, the two agitating MLAs, bottles of petrol in hand, said they would commit suicide if the police and Assembly staff tried to foil their indefinite fast. Besides passage of a resolution in the Assembly by the Rosaiah Government, they demanded that both Congress president and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh respond immediately on the Telangana issue.
For their part, Assembly officials, including special secretary Gopala Krishna and Chief Marshal Arthur, and ACP C Narotham Reddy and other police officers reviewed the situation from time to time. They spoke with the two MLAs over mobile phone, urging them to withdraw their strike and not to resort to any extreme step.
When the MLAs refused to open the doors, the officials approached Speaker N Kiran Kumar Reddy and Deputy Speaker N Manohar for necessary orders. Besides deployment of additional police force, an ambulance and a fire engine have been kept ready. All gates have been locked to prevent outsiders from entering the premises.
Meanwhile, tension prevailed on the premises when TRS leaders, including politburo member S Madhusudana Chary and others, staged a dharna in front of the main gate around 4:00 pm. They registered their protest by raising slogans against the Congress Government.
The situation worsened when scores of students tried to gatecrash into the Assembly.
Earlier, they had taken part in a condolence meeting at Gun Park (opposite the Assembly buildings) to pay tributes to Srikant, the student who committed suicide for the Telangana cause.
–Agencies