Agitating Seemandhra employees took their protest to New Delhi on Wednesday by staging a dharna there in front of the residence of AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh.
The Secretariat Seemandhra Employees Forum and other service associations went to represent their grievances before Antony Committee, but met Mr. Singh at his residence when the committee meeting was cancelled.
Upset over Mr. Singh’s response that the Congress had taken a firm decision on State bifurcation and that the employees should focus on service-related issues, they said that they were also citizens of Andhra Pradesh. In a 14-page representation, the employees’ associations detailed the complex issues of resource sharing, access to education, employment facilities and the insecurity of Seemandhra people living in Hyderabad post division. The issues were not easy to be resolved and thus it would be in the interest of all to keep the State united.
Dharna
Not satisfied with Mr. Singh’s response to their concerns, they later staged a brief dharna and raised slogans seeking justice outside his residence.
The Secretariat Seemandhra Employees Association would also meet Prime Minister if possible on Thursday, they said.
Meeting with Advani
Meanwhile, the APNGOs and other associations who met Prime Minister on Tuesday, met BJP leaders L.K. Advani and Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Reiterating that they were for smaller States, the BJP leaders, however, said they would ensure that no injustice would be meted out to Seemandhra people. The process of Telangana could not be taken forward without addressing the concerns of Seemandhra, Mr. Advani said.
APNGOs president P. Ashok Babu said that they would meet Seemandhra MPs and Union Ministers and request them to resign from their posts in support of the agitation in the region and attend the ‘Save Andhra Pradesh’ meeting in Hyderabad on September 7.
The objective of the meeting was to create awareness about the ill consequences of bifurcation, he said.
Hyderabad belonged to all, and Telangana protagonists should cooperate as the meeting was not against the Telangana movement or people, he said. If the government did not give permission, they would take legal recourse, Mr. Ashok Babu said.
