JOIN USViolence erupts in Telangana region
He faxed his resignation letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar.
Taking a cue from him, two dozen MLAs and MLCs from Telangana, cutting across party lines, also resigned from their posts. Half a dozen Congress office-bearers, too, resigned in protest.
Despite pleas to maintain calm and not to resort to violence, angered by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram’s statement on Wednesday that, in view of the confusion on the issue, the Centre would hold “wide-ranging consultations”, violence broke out across the Telangana region.
While police caned students of N G Ranga Agriculture University on the outskirts of the city, several buses were stoned and set on fire in Hyderabad and Medak districts.
Tension prevailed in several localities in Hyderabad as protesters took to the streets shouting slogans in support of Telangana.
‘Rasta rokos’ and dharna were staged even in small towns across Telangana throughout the night. A cell phone tower of BSNL was set on fire in Nalgonda district.
Protest rallies were also taken out in Adilabad, Nalgonda, Medak, Nizamabad and Warangal districts.
However, Telangana leaders like Chandrashekhar Rao and K Jana Reddy of the Congress appealed to youth to maintain peace since they would lose sight of their goal of Telangana state if they got carried away by anger and violence.
The two leaders announced that an all-party joint action committee would be set up on Friday to carry forward the struggle for Telangana.
Even as the TRS, backed by the BJP and CPI, called for a 48-hour bandh to protest against the Centre’s decision to put the issue on the backburner, prohibitory orders were enforced across Telangana in anticipation of violence.
In several places in Hyderabad and Secunderabad, angry students resorted to vandalism, targeting buses. While Telangana supporters described the Centre’s stand a “deception” and yet another betrayal, leaders of coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions described it as a “right decision” and a step forward.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah, who convened an emergency Cabinet meeting which unanimously welcomed the Centre’s stand, said the statement was balanced and had shown neither favour or discrimination against any region.
Hence, there was no need for any celebrations or protests.
He appealed to 176 MLAs of the Andhra and Rayalaseema regions to withdraw their resignations that they had submitted to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker following the December 9 statement of Chidambaram that the process for forming Telangana state would be initiated.