Telangana Congress MPs have resolved to continue their indefinite fast till the withdrawal of all the “illegal” cases registered against students and youth who participated in the Telangana agitation, notwithstanding the government's offer to withdraw 135 cases with immediate effect.
The MPs led by Congress Working Committee member K. Keshava Rao on fast at Gun Park in front of the Assembly rejected the government's request to call off the stir.
The MPs on fast are S. Satyanarayana, G. Sukhender Reddy, M. Jagannatham, P. Prabhakar, T. Rajaiah, Balaram Naik, K. Rajagopal Reddy and G. Vivek. They are demanding withdrawal of cases and paramilitary forces deployed in Telangana.
While Nizamabad MP Madhu Yashki was abroad, three others — V. Hanumantha Rao, Anjan Kumar Yadav and Nandi Yellaiah did not take part in the protest.
The MPs paid homage at statutes of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, Indira Gandhi and Babu Jagjivan Ram and continued the fast.
They later shifted to the new MLA quarters in view of the prohibitory orders in place near the Assembly.
Even as the protest was under way, Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy reviewed the situation with Ministers P. Sabita Indra Reddy, K. Jana Reddy, D. Sridhar Babu and B. Saraiah and discussed the cases that could be scrapped immediately.
Mr. Jana Reddy said that the government had agreed to lift 135 more cases booked during pro and anti-Telangana agitations from November 2009 to September 2010.
This was in addition to the 565 cases withdrawn earlier, giving relief to 3,300 students.
The Ministers visited the hunger strike camp of the MPs later in the evening in a bid to convince them about the government's willingness to take a lenient view about the remaining cases. The efforts of the Ministers, however, failed to cut ice as the MPs were firm on continuing their fast till all the cases were lifted unconditionally. “The question of calling off the fast does not arise till all the cases are withdrawn,” Dr. Keshava Rao said.
Inaction
Other MPs faulted the government for its inaction in spite of an assurance by Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram.
“A year has gone by, but our children are still languishing in jails and facing numerous cases,” Mr. Rajagopal Reddy, MP, said.
