The meeting of former MP G. Vivekanand with Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Tuesday to present a memorandum seeking his intervention in protecting the Secretariat and Irrum Manzil led to speculation that he would join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Apparently, Mr. Shah invited him to join the party promising him all the respect he deserves. However, Mr. Vivekanand was said to be non-committal and told the Home Minister that the sole intention of meeting him was to seek justice on the Telangana Secretariat and Irrum Manzil.
Apolitical fight
Sources said that Mr. Vivekanand was more interested in fighting on a non-political platform against Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao as he was bringing together with all the political parties and groups in his cause. “We can’t predict the future but as of now he will be working Independently,” sources said.
Mr. Vivekanand, who resigned from the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) after being denied the Peddapalli ticket, has recently formed a group “Prajaswamika Telangana” to fight against the government’s decision to demolish the present Secretariat and construct a new one, and also a new Assembly building demolishing the Irrum Manzil.
On the same platform, he organised a meeting where leaders of all the major political parties attended and extended support to him on his fight. The meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah is an extension of that.
Direction to Governor
Mr. Vivekanand urged Mr. Shah to direct the Governor to invoke Section 8 of the A.P. Reorganisation Act that made the Governor custodian of all government buildings in the State capital after bifurcation.
He said that the Irrum Manzil was listed in the heritage list by the State government in 1998 but the TRS government had removed the building from the list with malafide intentions.
In his representation, he also questioned as to how the 10 lakh sft area in the present Secretariat that served the combined Andhra Pradesh was not enough for Telangana.
