|
Andhra Pradesh : Telengana movement |
 |
In the early seventies, the Telengana agitation for a separate state was launched from Osmania University campus in Hyderabad. Last week the joint action committee of the Osmania University Service Association, gave a call for a mass-leave programme. Nearly 4000 of the 4800 members of the Association participated in the programme. The students wing of the BJP also joined the programme. This has pushed the Andhra Pradesh unit of the BJP to the brink and there is serious danger of a split on the Telengana issue following the national leadership’s veto of the state unit’s decision to promote a separate Telengana.
The BJP gained nearly five parliamentary seats (out of the eight) in the Telengana region where it bartered its strength of nearly 18 per cent popular vote to the ruling Telugu Desam Party and contributed to its success in the various Telengana districts. More than 30 prominent BJP leaders of the Telengana region have tentatively decided to float a Telengana BJP forum.
The Congress high command is also under increasing pressure from its MLAs to take a view on the issue. As of now, the party’s stand is ambiguous. But it is a fact that 41 odd Congress MLAs from the Telengana region are keen that the high command clarifies its stand on the demand. Like their counterparts in the BJP, the Congress MLAs belonging to the region, have also formed a Telengana Congress Legislators’ Forum. Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee will be travelling to Hyderabad next week to discuss the matter.
Meanwhile, the nine Left parties of Andhra Pradesh launched their state-wide campaign on June 10 against the demand for a separate Telengana state arguing that the development of Telengana is possible only within a united Andhra Pradesh.
|
