Samaikyandhra is our only demand: APNGO leader

Two members dress like trees and dance to drum beats

Employees of Siddhartha Medical College and Government General Hospital staging a novel protest as part of the Samaikyandhra agitation organised by Andhra Pradesh Government Doctors Association, in Vijayawada on Saturday. Photo: V.Raju

Samaikyandhra is our only demand and there is no stepping down or compromise on it, said APNGO Krishna district president and JAC Convenor A. Vidyasagar.

Addressing the media at the ‘Vanta Varpu’ programme organised by the A.P. Medical Ministerial Association at the Siddhartha Medical College, as part of the ongoing Samaikyandhra agitation, here on Saturday, he said that politicians may be fighting over status of Hyderabad, but for us the only solution is united Andhra Pradesh. The NGOs also took out a rally from the Government General Hospital to Siddhartha Medical College. To add colour, two of the members dressed like trees and danced to the drum beats amidst sloganeering for Samaikyandhra.

There is no second thought or second option in our demand, he said. The APNGOs will intensify the stir in the next couple of days if the Central Government does not drop the idea of bifurcation. “We have a series of programmes including rallies and public meetings lined up. The response from the various NGO Associations has been voluntary and spontaneous and from Monday even the judicial staff will join the stir,” he added. So far about 54 NGO organisations and Ministerial associations from the 13 districts have joined the agitation and about 4.2 lakh employees had struck work from August 12 midnight.

Criticising the NGO Associations from the Telangana region, he said that while APNGOs were proposing a public meeting at Hyderabad and were in talks with the DGP to accord permission, the bad approach of the Telangana NGOs hurt us, as they were trying to stall the meeting. They had even gone to the extent of threatening, he added.

Hitting out at TRS leader E. Rajender, the APNGO leader asked if they had to take permission from the Telangana NGO leaders to host a public meeting at State capital. A.P. Medical Ministerial Association leader G. Manju Babu said that the bifurcation decision was taken without any clarity.

“Right now we are under the zonal system and once bifurcated and as per GO 610 the employees would lose seniority. Over 70 per cent of the employees in Telangana region are from Andhra region, what would happen to them,” he questioned.

Another leader Raja Chowdary demanded that all political leaders from the Andhra region tender their resignation, if they were serious about the Samaikyandhra movement.