Slap cases on FM, Shinde, says court

Ministers accused of not keeping promise on Telangana statehood

A district court of  Ranga Reddy  has  asked police to book cases against Union ministers  P Chidambaram and  SushilKumar Shinde  for making false promises of granting statehood Telangana  in 2009 and also  in December  2012.

Hearing a petition the court held that the ministers had hurt the sentiments of people of Telangana by not fulfilling their promises.

Naresh Kumar, a lawyer, had  filed the petition alleging Shinde and Chidambaram of “cheating” people of Telangana region.

The court directed the police to register a case under IPC 420 and submit a report by February 14.

Chidambaram headed the Home Ministry when the Centre announced on December 9, 2009, that steps for formation of Telangana state would be initiated. Later Shinde took over and assured a solution within one month, when he addressed an all-party meeting on December 28, 2012.

However, Shinde on January 27, when the deadline of one month he gave ended, said further consultations were needed on the matter. AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad also said the high command would meet the chief minister, PCC chief and senior leaders of all the three regions and hold discussions.

He said that decision would be possible only after the discussions.

Meanwhile, TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao addressing a rally here said that Congress had been “cheating” Telangana people for three generations. He also accused the Congress and the TDP of illegally constructing projects to take away  Telangana share of  river waters.

Announcing a Chalo Assembly programme as part of agitation, he said a plan of action would be announced after consulting other political parties and organisations like JAC for a joint and collective offence against the Congress government in state and the UPA at the Centre.

Students  once again took lead in pro-Telangana agitation on Monday. Angry students  of  Osmania  University and other institutions in Hyderabad tried to break police barricades as they made their way to Indira Park. Their attempts  to march  from Indira Park to Gun Park was  foiled by the police.

Five students forced their way into the chamber of Vice-Chancellor of Kakatiya University in Warangal with bottles of petrol and threatened to set themselves on fire if police intervened.  The Vice-Chancellor was not in the chamber, police said who managed to get the students out and detain them. 

In Warangal district town, the students also damaged the statue of former prime minister Indira Gandhi.

Prominent TRS and BJP leaders  including Chandrasekhar Rao and actor MP Vijayshanti participated  in the 36 hour ‘Samara Deeksha’ protest  under the aegis of T-JAC at Indira Park.

The protesters want pro-Telangana Congress ministers, MPs and MLAs to resign or face social boycott if they fail to show their loyalty to the Telangana cause. After a marathon session,  Congress ministers   declared that they were not hanging on to chairs as charged by TRS leaders but were patiently waiting for party high command to decide.

“Azad and Shinde  statements surprised us  but not disheartened as we are aware of the pressures on the party leadership ,” said the senior Congressman Jana Reddy and Panchayati Raj minister.