Cong MPs take a T break - Nine Telangana MPs On Fast For Lifting Cases Against Students

Fasting political leaders are beginning to unsettle the Kiran Kumar Reddy regime.First it was Jagan, then Naidu and now nine Telangana Congress MPs led by K Keshava Rao began an indefinite fast on Monday morning in pursuance of their demand that all cases against the students of the region,who had participated in the T-agitations,be withdrawn.The cases had been slapped in the wake of Telangana disturbances at the end of 2009 and beginning of this year.This is a satyagraha against our own Govt.  which has failed in its commitment. If this fails to move the Govt.,we will give up our Parliamentary seats, declared Keshava Rao while beginning the fast.

Attempts by CM Kiran Kumar Reddy on Monday evening to persuade the MPs to end their fast failed. After an emergency meeting of cabinet members during the day,Kiran sent home minister Sabita Indra Reddy as emissary to the fasting MPs with the assurance that 135 cases against 834 students from all the regions would be lifted.In all,1670 cases have been booked against agitating students.Of this,565 cases have been lifted apart from the 135 promised on Monday.According to police,the remaining 970 cases pertain to serious charges like arson,damaging government property etc.But the fasting MPs say that an overzealous police force dominated by anti-Telangana officers had foisted false cases on the students.

There is no question of calling off the fast unless all cases against Telangana students are withdrawn,  Keshava Rao said. Late in the evening,a team of ministers comprising Sabita Indra Reddy,D Sridhar Babu,B Saraiah and Jana Reddy called on the MPs again and urged them to call off their fast on the assurance that the cases against the remaining students would be withdrawn in a phased manner.But the MPs were unrelenting.State government sources said yet another attempt to placate the MPs would be made by the CM on Tuesday,but the defiance of the fasting leaders seems to suggest that the solution would not be that easy.We are worried that their fast might trigger unrest across the region if it is not ended soon, said a worried official.At least two ministers of the Kiran government and many MLAs and MLCs called on fasting MPs to express their solidarity.This is reminiscent of Jagans fast last week which saw expression of support by 30 ruling party MLAs in spite of the fact that it was against the policies of the government.

At 9 pm, the MPs wrote a letter to Sonia Gandhi saying that their actions were intended to strengthen the party. The fast by Telangana Congress MPs comes barely two days after TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao said that he was willing to merge his party with the Congress if it granted Telangana state.The fast precedes the submission of the Srikrishna Committee report on Thursday.The report in all probability will not be made public immediately.
================================
Ministers visit fasting MPs, embarrass CM

The fasting by MPs that included Ponnam Prabhakar, S Satyanarayana, G Sukhender Reddy, Manda Jagannatham, K Rajagopal Reddy, S Rajaiah,G Vivekananda and P Balram Naik besides Keshav Rao began at the Gun Park memorial in Secunderabad in the morning. But the MPs were told by the police that a fast could not be permitted at Gun Park.Thus by the afternoon, the fasting MPs re-located themselves to the New MLA Quarters at Adarshnagar,the same venue where TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu had begun his fast for farmers a few days ago.

In an embarrassment for the Chief Minister,two of his colleagues,panchayat raj minister K Jana Reddy and BC welfare minister Basavaraj Saraiah,were among the 25-odd Congress MLAs and MLCs who called on the fasting MPs and extended their solidarity. Other leaders who visited the fasting site were Telangana political JAC convenor M Kodandaram,revolutionary balladeer Gaddar,besides convenors of JACs of doctors,lawyers and government employees.Meanwhile,joining chorus with the Congress MPs,some students of Osmania University boycotted their semester exams on Monday.
===========================
(source-toi)