Telangana: TRS chief calls for a 3-day blockade

Hyderabad: Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief K Chandrasekhar Rao has given a call for launch of a three-day blockade of the highways in the Telangana region, on the lines of the 90-day blockade enforced in the north-eastern state of Manipur, to increase the pressure on the Central government.

Addressing the general body of Telangana Rashtra Samiti Vidyarthi (TRSV) at Telangana Bhavan in Hyderabad on Sunday, he said he wanted a serious agitation built so that the Centre would understand its gravity. "I want a blockade of national highways in the region. It should be on the lines of the 90-day blockade of the highway in Manipur which forced Union home minister P Chidambaram to pleaded with the agitators to lift the blockade." The blockade being planned in Telangana would be for three days and TJAC chairman M Kodandaram would announce the dates, he said.

The chief minister should realise that if there was delay in granting statehood to Telangana, the movement might slip out of his hands. "I many not be able to control lakhs of people who are seething with rage," he warned. Reiterating that his commitment to the cause was unflinching, Rao said he preferred death by consuming poison to abandoning the Telangana movement.

On the delay in deletion of Clause 14 (F) from the Presidential Order, he called upon the youth to take active part in the Sakala Janula Samme. He reiterated his demand that the written examination for SI recruitments be held only after deletion of the clause. "All people of the region and elected representatives are demanding deletion of the clause. I don’t understand why the chief minister is dodging the issue. What will he lose if the clause is deleted?'' he asked.

Giving details of the TRS' agitation, he said rasta roko would be staged across the region on August 1 and rallies on August 2, chief minister and DGP would be burnt in effigy on August 3, a round table on Clause 14 (F) on August 4, and a total bandh on August 5 if the earlier programmes failed to yield result.

The state government and the chief minister should bear the responsibility if any untoward incident happened during the agitation, he warned.