The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) has got into the election mode if the sudden spurt in its activity with the admission into the party of MLA K. Harishwar Reddy and ex-NGOs leader K. Swamy Goud in the last two days and several mass contact programmes lined up in the coming days is any indication.
TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao also announced on Friday that it was only a matter of time before the Congress government crashed to set the tone for polls. He declared Mr. Swamy Goud as the party candidate for the Legislative Council elections from the Graduates’ constituency in North Telangana.
Sources said Mr. Rao’s game plan in reaching out to masses was to target Congress and Telugu Desam on the ground that they deceived the people of Telangana and arrest the penetration of YSR Congress party.
It is in this background that a major public meeting will be organised by TRS at Suryapet in Nalgonda on November 23. The party’s ‘Palle Baata’ programme from November 30 was aimed to clash with the padayatra of TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu in the heartland of Telangana.
Topping it all, Mr. Rao and chairman of Telangana joint action committee M. Kodandaram announced that they had sorted out their differences and said they would carry on the struggle under the broad umbrella of the JAC.
The two leaders addressed the media after their first meeting since the by-election to Mahbubnagar Assembly constituency in March last. “I have made it abundantly clear that what is required is the emergence of a strong political force if the dream of Telangana is to fructify and we have erased the small differences that were there between us,” Mr. Rao said.
The ‘Samara Bheri’ in Suryapet and the ‘Deeksha Diwas’ in Telangana on November 29 to mark the completion of three years of hunger strike by him would see the active participation of JAC, Mr. Rao said and added that the united journey would last till the formation of Telangana State.
Mr. Kodandaram said the steering committee of JAC would meet soon to finalise the constitution of a sub-committee to fine tune the united struggle.
Kodandaram tenders apology
Meanwhile, Mr. Kodandaram again tendered an apology to Scheduled Caste organisations, particularly to Minister J. Geeta Reddy, after activists of Madiga Students Federation staged a demonstration near his house in Tarnaka over his alleged remark against the Minister.
Mr. Kodandaram told media persons later that his words due to slip of tongue during a speech at Zaheerabad recently were not aimed at any individual nor organisation. He appealed to everyone to understand his position in right spirit. He was anguished over what had happened. This is the second time that Mr. Kodandaram apologised on the issue.
He and other JAC leaders called for end to the controversy as it would not help the cause of separate Telangana. Telangana Non-Gazetted Officers Union president G. Deviprasad Rao warned that the JAC was prepared to take on anyone if the controversy continued.
