The Andhra Pradesh Non-Gazetted Officers’ Association will try to convince the Telangana MLAs and MPs also about the benefits of not dividing the State, the Association president P. Ashok Babu has said. Mr. Ashok Babu, who came to participate in the second ‘Save Andhra Pradesh’ meeting organised here on Friday could not speak at the main meeting venue as it rained heavily forcing him to stop the show.
He spoke at a press conference held at the venue of the meeting in the morning. The star speaker of the Samaikyandhra movement chose not to speak at the meeting as it was well past 8.30 p.m. the time given by the city police to wind up the meeting.
Crisis in Centre
Mr.Ashok Babu said, come what may, the primary demand of the APNGOs was the resignation of the MPs and Central Ministers of Seemandhra region to create a political crisis at the Centre.
He said that the massive and peaceful movement against the division of the State had become a hot topic of discussion all over the country. This period was like a golden era in the history of the State, he said.
The massive gathering at Swaraj Maidan waited for over four hours despite a drizzle to listen to Mr. Ashok Babu.
Though the organisers planned for six or seven speakers, NGO leader A. Vidya Sagar had a formidable task in managing the number of persons who wanted to speak. He ended up permitting over a dozen speakers. Mr. Ashok Babu’s speech was further delayed with a section of the audience taking Mr. Sagar’s suggestion to have an encore of the visually challenged Gangadhar Master’s song. When Mr Sagar asked the audience to choose between a speech and a song the people wanted the song. Meanwhile, the weather changed for the worse and the drizzle turned into a downpour forcing Mr. Ashok Babu to close the meeting.