Protests for Telangana continue

While women came out in large numbers and cooked food in front of government offices in Karimnagar district, young boys shed their upper garments and sat in dharna in Nizamabad district.

In Hyderabad, Osmania University students performed last rites for the opponents of Telangana, especially the Telugu Desam Party.

In Nalgonda the people decided not to pay their power bills till the state of Telangana was announced while in Manchariyal in Adilabad district a statue of the late N T Rama Rao who belonged to coastal Andhra region, was damaged.

Elected representatives of the gram panchayat of Yadagirigutta in Nalgonda district were confined in their office by people demanding they resign while in Nizamabad city, angry youth lay siege to the house of PCC chief D Srinivas demanding that he submit his resignation as party chief.

Agitation

In Warangal, Telangana supporters set on fire a nationalised bank branch while in the pilgrim town of Vemulavada in Karimnagar the TDP office was set on fire. Students of Osmania and Kakatiya universities continued their hunger strike for the third day on Saturday. Four MLAs of CPI submitted their resignations in support of Telangana state in accordance with the instructions of the party’s central committee.

Relay fasting

Meanwhile, the Telangana Joint Action Committee comprising all political parties led by the Telangana Rashtra Samiti decided to observe relay fasts for the next three days as it strategises on its future course of action which it hopes to announce on Monday.
In an effort to rope in TDP into the JAC, it invited Nagam Janardhan Reddy TDP MLA to lead the JAC. However the offer was declined.

Responding to criticism that TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu was adopting double standards by supporting both the movement for unified state while not taking a clear stance on Telangana, Reddy said Chandrababu would announce his stance the day Sonia Gandhi took a decision on Telangana.

Meanwhile the 13 Telangana ministers who resigned on Friday are scheduled to leave for Delhi to meet Mrs Sonia Gandhi to urge her to speed up the process for the formation of Telangana State.