Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

TRS calls for Telangana State

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD JAN. 6. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS)-sponsored `Telangana garjana,' which turned out to be a mammoth public meeting at the Parade grounds here on Monday evening, gave a call to people to dedicate themselves to the cause of formation of a separate State.

The TRS chief, K. Chandrasekhara Rao, wound up the meeting announcing that Statehood for Telangana was above his personal ambition and he would accept no post when the State was formed. He would remain to be a custodian of the State until all its problems were solved. He would wage any battle even if it meant sacrificing his life.

Mr. Rao also said a Dalit would be the first Chief Minister of the State. Mere formation of the State was not enough, he aimed at seeing a Telangana which was prosperous and encounter-free. The uplift of weaker sections and other downtrodden was also on the agenda.

Launching a scathing attack on the Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, whom he called a Telangana traitor, Mr. Rao said people had enough of his gimmicks. They will no longer tolerate his talk about `Ganga-Cauvery link-up'. They will not sleep nor allow Mr. Naidu to sleep until Telangana got its legitimate share in Krishna and Godavari waters. Mr. Naidu had hurriedly laid the foundation stone for the project on the Godavari at Devadula in Warangal district but what was its fate now. It was a non-starter. The stone was laid with an eye on the local body polls.

Mr. Rao said the people were in no position to trust the Congress, the BJP and Left parties even. They did not have the moral right to ask separate Telangana State until they demanded the share for the region in the Krishna-Godavari waters. If the groups within the Congress which took up the cause of Telangana had any commitment they should pressure the leadership into passing a resolution demanding separate Statehood.

The former Union Minister and Lok Janashakti Party president, Ramvilas Paswan, said a rally as big as this one would be organised at Ramleela grounds in Delhi on March 14 in support of Telangana State. He warned against any move to relocate the Ambedkar statue at the Tank Bund in the city in view of a flyover coming up over it. The flyover should be abandoned as it was an insult to the statue.

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha president, Sibu Soren, Narmada Bachao Andolan leader, Medha Patkar, and former Union Minister, Arif Mohammed Khan, also spoke.

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