T-JAC dares Congress, TDP leaders to quit by June 25

HYDERABAD: The Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) has set a fresh deadline for Ministers, MPs and MLAs of the Congress and Telugu Desam from the region to resign if an announcement on separate Telangana was not made by June 25.

While sparing Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of the ultimatum as MLAs of the two parties had already proved their commitment to the cause by resigning last year, the JAC leadership said on Thursday that it had decided to target Congress because of its deceiving nature and the TDP for its double standards on the issue of statehood.

JAC chairman M. Kodandaram and TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao told reporters after a meeting of the steering committee that it was also decided to organise “cooking on roads” programme in the State capital on June 19. It was aimed at blocking traffic on the roads.

Agitation plan

The meeting also decided on a series of agitations but did not announce dates. They included a general strike, a ‘chalo Hyderabad', blocking of traffic on national highways and a rail roko. It was decided to confront Congress and TDP leaders when they visited villages from June 13. The TRS president and BJP State president G. Kishan Reddy would participate in the programme on the first day, Mr. Kodandaram said.

He said that lakhs of people would be mobilised for ‘chalo Hyderabad' and the administration brought to a standstill by the general strike. The JAC did not support the TDP ‘Ranabheri' programmes at Tandur on June 10 and in Adilabad on June 13.

Meanwhile, the Telangana Telugu Desam Forum warned Telangana activists against disturbing its second “Telangana Ranabheri” at Tandur on Friday.

At a press conference, Forum convenor E. Dayakar Rao said it was unfortunate that some Telangana groups were bent upon creating hurdles for a meeting which was meant for achieving separate statehood.

He alleged that plans were being made in the TRS office, to disturb the meeting and warned that both the TRS president, K. Chandrasekhara Rao, and the political JAC chairman, M. Kodandaram, would have to take responsibility for any untoward incident.