Representatives of various organisations and groups were perplexed when members of the Srikrishna Committee, during consultations on the situation in Andhra Pradesh, peppered them with searching questions on their strong views in favour of separate Telangana or against it.
When the groups supporting Telangana met them, the Committee members asked whether remedies to problems they had were not sufficient and whether there was necessity for division of the State.
Similarly, the organisations that spoke in support of united Andhra Pradesh were probed with posers about the reasons for their opposition to division of the State.
A delegation of Telangana Gazetted Officers' Association (TGOA) explained how Telangana people were discriminated in the matter of jobs, particularly in gazetted officers' posts. President of TGOA, V. Sreenivas Goud, and general secretary E. Srinivas Rao alleged that jobs meant for Telangana people were cornered by people from other regions with their political and financial power.
Member secretary of the committee V.K. Duggal and members Abu Saleh Shariff and Ravinder Kaur asked the delegation why they had been keeping quiet all these years when the Presidential Order and other laws and orders were in place to safeguard their interests.
The TGOA delegation said these orders were not implemented in spite of moving the courts as a majority of senior officials belonged to other regions.
Representatives of Osmania University Joint Action Committee (JAC) explained to the Committee how the students were in the forefront of the movement for separate Telangana.
Students who suffered injuries in police lathicharge and firing during the height of agitation in the OU campus showed their wounds. Venkata Chary, father of Srikant Chary, who had committed self-immolation near the OU Campus two months ago accompanied the delegation.
‘Holy war'
The students maintained that creation of Telangana was a necessity and they would continue their agitation whether the panel gave a favourable report or not. In a symbolic gesture, the students came to the venue riding on a horse carriage holding mace, sword, bow and arrow to the venue of the consultation. They contended that theirs was a holy war for creation of Telangana.
Dalit Christian Forum, Dalit Praja Party and Samkya Andhra Samiti Party told the committee that only a united AP would protect the interests of Dalits, downtrodden and minorities.
Teams of Hyderabad Engineers' Association, and Telangana Christian Forum and other organisations also met the committee.
