Cong steals thunder from TRS-Govt Lifts All Cases Against Students;MPs Call Off Fast

In what is now emerging as a coordinated move of the Congress aimed at stealing the Telangana thunder from the TRS,the regions Congress MPs sat on an indefinite fast on Monday demanding the withdrawal of all cases lodged against students in connection with the statewide agitation since last year,and the N Kiran Kumar Reddy government obliged the very next day. The indefinite fast by nine Congress MPs lasted less than 30 hours.At the stroke of 4 pm on Tuesday,a few Telangana ministers led by home minister Sabita Indira Reddy walked into the fasting venue at New MLA quarters in Adarshnagar and announced that all 1,667 cases registered against 8,047 students of all the three regions will be lifted immediately.Among these were 967 serious cases about which the state said it will approach the courts and get them settled.

A few minutes later,the MPs ended their fast and celebrated their victory.In the first stage of the drama that took place on Monday,the state government had offered to withdraw 137 cases registered against 834 students.But the fasting MPs rejected the offer and said they would not give up their satyagraha unless all the cases were dropped. In fact,the state move to drop all the cases against the students was in the air since Monday night.And by Tuesday morning,the TV channels began flashing the report that the Kiran regime had decided to concede to the demand and that an official announcement would be made soon. Sensing that the Congress had outwitted him this time around,TRS supremo K Chandra sekhar Rao rushed to the fasting venue late in the afternoon along with his son and MLA K Taraka Rama Rao and expressed his solidarity with them.KCR said the leaders from the Telangana region would wage a united battle till they achieved Telangana state.

For the record,the chief minister,DGP K Aravinda Rao and a few ministers met at the CMs camp office and discussed the demands of the fasting MPs earlier in the day.The CM also met PCC president D Srinivas at Gandhi Bhavan and held meetings with several ministers before the decision was announced by the Telangana ministers delegation at the fasting camp site.Home minister Sabita Indra Reddy presented a written note to this effect to Rajya Sabha member K Keshava Rao.Addressing the gathering, she said the government had taken the decision keeping in view the law and order situation and the future of the students in mind. Although it is a victory for the Congress against the TRS on the issue of withdrawal of cases registered against the students from the region,it is a major humiliation for chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy who had only two weeks ago thundered on the floor of the assembly that the serious cases could not be withdrawn and that they had to endure the due process of the law.
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Now,TRS plans fast to outwit Cong

It is now TRS president K Chandrasekhar Raos turn to rattle the state government which has been stumbling from one crisis to another.Minutes after the nine Telangana Congress MPs called off their indefinite fast after the state conceded to their demand,KCR announced that the TRS cadres would sit on a relay hunger strike from January 5 seeking the withdrawal of all paramilitary forces from region. Realising that he was outsmarted by the Congress on the issue of withdrawal of cases registered against the students in connection with the Telangana agitation,KCR decided that he would next take up the issue of the presence of the paramilitary forces in the region in order to remain in the limelight. Accordingly on Tuesday evening,the TRS chief called up Union home minister P Chidambaram and requested for the withdrawal of the central forces.It is nothing but an act of instigation of the people in the region by the central and state governments, KCR told Chidambaram,according to a TRS leader.The TRS chief then called upon the people of the region and party cadres to launch a relay hunger strike in all villages from Jan 5 demanding withdrawal of central forces. T panel to please all.
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(source-toi)