A majority of the speakers at the ‘Save Andhra Pradesh’ meeting were categorical in saying that they would not give up Hyderabad, a capital that had been developed by the people of all the three regions.
“We will not lose out on Hyderabad which has been developed by all the three regions,” they said.
AP Non-Gazetted Officers’ Association president P. Ashok Babu warned supporters of separate Telangana against any attempts to create obstacles to the programmes planned by Seemandhra employees in the city, saying it was not in their own interests.
Mr. Ashok Babu said the struggle in Seemandhra was not against Telangana staff or their sentiments. “We may not have enough numbers here (in Hyderabad). But, we (Seemandhra region) definitely have more numbers at the national level where we can complicate the issue,” he said hinting at broad-basing the ongoing agitation where the electricity employees were expected to join the stir shortly.
P. Mithra, who represented the doctors JAC in the meeting, accused the Seemandhra Ministers of ‘hiding in New Delhi’ as they had no courage to come to their respective constituencies.
“The claims of Central leaders on commencement of the process are lies. The UPA government is a minority government and it cannot take such decisions without consent from all the stakeholders,” he said.
Without naming them, he took a dig at TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu and YSR Congress leader Y.S. Sharmila for launching political yatras at a time when the State was on the boil. “People are giving you the last opportunity. You may have given letters in support of Telangana in the past, but there is still time to stall the process if the letters are taken back,” he said.
APSRTC Employees Union representative Chandrasekhara Reddy lamented that the Rayalaseema region was forced to forego its capital Kurnool for formation of Visalandhra while it had to forego the mineral rich Bellary district for facilitating creation of linguistic States.
“Who will assure us development on a par with Hyderabad? Will we get back Bellary back to our fold?”
Students JAC leader Krishna Yadav described July 30, the day the Congress Working Committee gave its green signal to separate Telangana, as a ‘black day’ and said the Seemandhra students would be left in a lurch if the State’s division was allowed. “Where should we look for jobs when the IT, research laboratories, pharma companies and all others are located in Hyderabad?’ he said.
Secretariat Seemandhra Employees’ representative Murali Krishna said but for Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, not a single Cabinet Minister was vocal about the need to maintain united State.
“Why are these Ministers silent? Why are they not asserting their stand?”
