Even as the indefinite strike by the Andhra-Seema Government employees and RTC workers on Friday entered fourth day and anti-Telangana politicians mounting pressure on the Centre, the Antony Committee of the Congress will visit Hyderabad on August 19 to receive representations from the cross sections on bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
The high-level committee comprising four top Congress leaders including AK Antony, Digvijay Singh and Ahmad Patel will meet Telangana leaders on August 19 and Seemandhra leaders the next day.
Telangana Ministers met State Congress president Botsa Satyanarayana to discuss the issues to be taken up with the Antony Committee. labour Minister Danam Nagendar said that the Ministers will make it clear that they will abide by whatever decision the Congress High Command takes in respect of Hyderabad city. Another Minister D Sridhar Babu said that there was no need for the people of Seemandhra living in Hyderabad to be worried about their security or their future.
In a novel protest, the Seemandhra people will observe “power shutdown” on Saturday evening. The power sector employees of the two regions have decided that they will put out the power in their homes from 7 to 8 pm and urged the people in the two regions to do the same. Even the people of the two regions in Hyderabad will also observe the same protest.
Botsa Satyanarayana told the Ministers that the process of formation of Telangana State had not stalled and it was moving forward. “As per the Constitution, the Union Home Ministry was working on the issue”, he said.
Ministers from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions will also meet the Chief Minister and the State Congress president to discuss their strategy with the Antony Committee.
While the administration continued to be paralysed in 13 districts of Andhra and Rayalaseema, the employees of the two regions in the State Secretariat went on a day’s casual leave on Friday bringing the work to a standstill.
AP Non-Gazetted Officers Association president Ashok Babu said that the employees will further intensify their agitation if the Congress does not review its decision. “The decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh was taken by the Congress and not by the Central Government,” he said.
Prominent leaders from the two regions attended a meeting of United Andhra Pradesh Joint Action Committee in Guntur to chart out their future course of action.
But a Minister from Rayalseema TG Venkatesh said that this was an inappropriate time for the Government employees to go on strike. “The strike is not a solution to the problem. If the employees don’t get salary for two months the strike will fail,” he said.
Meanwhile, the police forcibly shifted Minister Thota Narasimha Rao’s wife Vani to a hospital as her health condition worsened after six days of hunger strike in Kakinanda city against the proposed bifurcation of the State.
Under the supervision of District Collector Nitu Prasad and Superintendent of Police Shivshankar Reddy, women police shifted Vani to a Government hospital as she refused to accept the request to break her fast in view of her worsening condition. The operation took place at around 2 am. On Friday she was shifted to a private hospital for better treatment.
Meanwhile, YSRCP honorary president YS Vijayalakshmi will be starting her indefinite hunger strike at Kadapa in protest against formation of Telangana State. Vijayalakshmi has already resigned from the State Assembly while her son Jaganmohan Reddy has quit the lok Sabha.