Telangana Joint Action Committee Chairman M. Kodandaram on Tuesday said that if the government comes to the discussion table and takes firm steps signalling the start of the process of forming a separate State, they would consider postponing the Telangana March on September 30 here.
At a ‘Meet the Press’ programme organised by the Telangana Journalists Forum (TJF) in Hyderabad on Tuesday, he recalled that they had announced their intention to stage the March three months ago and regretted that all this while the government had not thought it fit to dwell upon the burning issue.
“Now, with the deadline drawing closer, the government appears to have woken up,” he said.
“Nobody is for violence. We have been consistently saying that the T-March will be absolutely democratic and most peaceful. But the government appears to be whipping up passions by resorting to actions like ‘binding over’ known activists while taking some more into custody, setting up roadblocks and attempting to virtually seal off Hyderabad, preventing people from participating in the March,” he said, adding that even now it was not too late.
“If the government takes us into confidence and starts the process of fulfilling the dreams of crores of people, we are willing to reconsider. What kind of a government do we have that does not react to the deaths of 1,000 youngsters,” he asked, referring to the suicides over the years.
Others who participated included Allam Narayana, Chief Editor, ‘Namasthe Telangana’, Telangana protoganist and senior journalist Mallepalli Laxmaiah, T-JAC leaders Swamy Goud, Srinivas Goud and Raghu.
They condemned the ‘callous attitude’ of the State government and alleged that Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy was buckling under pressure.
