AP to withdraw cases against Telangana agitators

In a major success for Telangana supporters, the Andhra Pradesh government has decided to withdraw the cases booked against the agitators during the protests before the formation of the Srikrishna committee by the Centre.

This has been one of the major demands of all the participants of Telangana movement including the Congress leaders. The decision to lift the cases was taken on the recommendation of a committee comprising of the home minister P Sabita Reddy and former home minister K Jana Reddy. "The decision will be formally announced in a couple of days," highly placed sources said.

However the cases booked against those who damaged the public and private property will not be lifted. The decision will result in withdrawing as many as 790 cases involving 3567 persons, most of them students of Osmania University and Kakatiya University.

Telangana supporters including the leaders of TRS and Congress have been pressing Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and the state government to withdraw the cases. Though Chidambaram had assured them earlier this year, the decision could not be implemented due to various legal hitches.

The war of words between the Telangana Rashtra Samiti and Telugu Desam has reached a boiling point with several TDP leaders targeting K Chandrasekhar Rao and demanding his apology for a mob attack on N Chandrababu Naidu's convoy.

A day after Rao described the TDP as "the party of Andhraites" and called Naidu the main hurdle in the formation of of Telangana, several TDP

Senior TDP leader from Telangana, Devender Goud called the TRS party a "private limited company" formed for the benefit of Rao's family members.

Calling KCR the main hurdle in the formation of Telangana state, Goud said, "The people of Telangana should decide whether they want a state or the TRS."

Chandrababu Naidu also did not mince his words when he alleged that Rao had recently convened a meeting with the industrialists to blackmail them and to enter in to settlements with them.

Two other senior leaders from Telangana, Nagam Janardhan Reddy and Venugopala Chary warned KCR of retaliation if he continued to abuse the TDP.

 
Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member V Hanumantha Rao also targeted KCR saying he had changed his agenda. Criticising KCR's recent statement that the people hailing from Andhra and Rayala Seema, who were born in Telangana were Telanganites, Hanumantha Rao said that if that was the case where was the need for the movement for a separate state of Telangana. "If KCR had declared this view earlier, the students and other leaders from Telangana would not have supported him".