Advocates of Seemandhra region decided to continue boycott of courts till November 8 and to hold another convention at Kakinada on November 10 to decide the further course of action for their agitation for Samaikya Andhra Pradesh.
These decisions were taken during the one-day Seemandhra advocates convention held at the AU Convocation Hall here on Saturday and were announced by chairman of the JAC of advocates C.V. Mohan Reddy.
Sense of responsibility
The convention was attended by representatives of advocates of 13 districts which have 152 bar associations. Presidents of the bar associations and members of the AP Bar Council spoke and a majority of them wanted to continue the boycott of court work to bring a logical end to the strike which is nearly three months old and stall the bifurcation of the State since the APNGOs and APRSTC employees had temporarily gone back to work.
In the present circumstances the advocates felt that it was their responsibility to lead the agitation for keeping the State unified. The meeting also witnessed pandemonium twice with a group of advocates shouting at a representative of Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore districts’ advocates and AP Bar Council Member Brahma Reddy when he informed that the junior advocates in these districts want the boycott suspended since they were facing severe problems as there was no work.
Pandemonium
The agitation could be intensified by adopting many other methods, the advocates of these districts felt, Mr. Reddy said.
Intervention by president of Visakhapatnam Bar Association N.V. Badarinath, who presided over the meeting, and others, failed to pacify the agitated advocates. Mr. Badarinath said the meeting was meant to elicit opinion of all so that a final decision could be arrived at after a thorough discussion.
He had to bring in a singer to sing a song on unified State to bring an end to the chaos. Later, Mr. Brahma Reddy completed his version by saying that the advocates of the three districts would finally abide by the decision of the steering committee of the advocates.
Second time
Later Mr. Mohan Reddy too faced the protest while he was preparing to start his speech as the group of advocates suspected that a decision was already made to resume court work from Monday. Mr. Mohan Reddy was upset but kept his cool and asked the shouting advocates how people would believe that advocates would lead the agitation if they were not disciplined.
The trouble subsided after some time and Mr. Mohan Reddy said boycott of court work alone would not make the agitation successful and a stage was reached where the MPs and Central Ministers must be forced to meet the President and inform him that they were not supporting the government.
He wanted all advocates to get involved in the agitation. Boycott must be total and if it was not so the agitation would weaken, he warned.
He also released “Telugu Jaati Prasthanam”, a bilingual Telugu and English book written by an advocate Janardhan.
