Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N. Chandrababu Naidu’s ‘Vastunna Meekosam’ padayatra would enter Telangana region on Monday amid a tense situation as Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC) and other groups have lined up series of protests demanding that he clarify his stand on separate Statehood.
The padayatra will enter Telangana at Rajoli village located on the banks of the river Tungabhadra in Mahabubnagar district on the twenty-first day of the 117-day programme after covering Anantapur and Kurnool districts in Rayalayaseema. Mr. Naidu has shown strong resolve to keep his walkathon on so far in spite of being facing health problems, blisters on his feet, eye infection, muscle sprains and others and medical advise to him to take a break.
The TJAC, which has initially planned only to question Mr. Naidu to clarify the TDP’s stand on Telangana, has toughened its stand on Sunday by planning to conduct a meeting at Rajoli. Chairman of TJAC M. Kodandaram told The Hindu on Saturday that their intention was not to oppose the padayatra as such but to get TDP’s clarity over the issue.
“Our call to people is to question all politicians who are planning to pursue politics for unified State and get their clarity on the issue of Telangana. We have a right to seek clarity”, he said.
The TDP on the other hand, alleged that TJAC has been acting as the frontal organisation of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). Senior leader of the party Motkupalli Narasimhulu urged Prof. Kodandaram to question Congress and TRS on the Telangana issue instead of TDP which had already made its stand clear and reiterated it recently by writing a letter to the Prime Minister.
Why is TJAC sparing Congress and TRS and why is it only after TDP, Nama Nageswara Rao, party MP, asked. “Let them force Congress to introduce bill on Telangana, I will be the first one to vote in favour”, he said.
However, TDP MP Ramesh Rathod said they were prepared to teach those who were planning to obstruct Mr. Naidu’s padayatra a fitting lesson as they did when Mr. Naidu toured Telangana as part of his Rythu Poru Yatra last year.
Meanwhile, BJP leader Bandaru Dattatreya also demanded that Mr. Naidu clarify his stand on Telangana before taking up his padayatra in the region.
