Rediff.com« Back to articlePrint this article

Ghaddar launches new party for Telangana movement

October 09, 2010 14:52 IST

Popular balladeer Ghaddar on Saturday formally launched a new party Telangana Praja Front with the slogan of "self respect, self rule and equal rights".

Addressing a meeting in Hyderabad, Ghaddar made it clear that TPF will not be a mere political party but a 'political force' with the sole aim of achieving a separate state of Telangana.
 
"We will work to mobilise masses and pressurise the political parties to bring a legislation in the parliament for the formation of Telangana state," he said. Lashing out at political parties, Ghaddar said that the parties which were formed in the name of Telangana failed to keep their promises and forgot the struggle while indulging in electoral politics.
 
"It was not the electoral politics which forced the Congress to act on Telangana. It was the agitation by the students and the youth and other people that pushed the Congress party," he said.
 
"TPF will work to bring all the Telangana forces on one platform, without any links to any political parties or power politics", he said.
 
"Leaders who were elected to Parliament and assemblies in the name of Telangana did not do any thing for the region and forgot their promises," he said.
 
"Several parties over the last sixty years struggled for Telangana but they could not force the central government to take any action," he said stressing that Telangana cannot be achieved through a mere electoral process.
 
Ghaddar, famous for his stirring revolutionary songs, said that his front will build the movement from the grass root level and involve the people in the fight for the state.

Protesting against the exploitation of the natural resources of Telangana, Ghaddar said that the front will also fight to protect these resources. "Our struggle will be within the constitutional limits," he said.
 
Ghaddar's move of launching a new party has created a stir in Telangana as young workers of several parties and organisations have approached him and expressed their wish to work with him.

Dissident Congress leader and former minister Konda Surekha said that people like her who don't want to support K Chandrasekhar Rao of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti will definitely support Ghaddar as he was sincere in his struggle for Telangana. Surekha, who is a follower of YS Jaganmohan Reddy, said that the MP from Kadappa will also support Ghaddar's struggle.
 
Meanwhile, TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao, who has been under pressure because of Ghaddar's move, has threatened that if the central government does not concede to the demand for Telangana state after the Srikrishna committee submits its report by the end of December, supporters of Telangana will become 'human bombs' and teach a lesson to the opponents.
 
 "If the formation of Telangana state is not announced after December, there will be an earthquake in the region and the government will be responsible for the consequences," he said.
 
Addressing a meeting in Bhainsa town of Adilabad district, he also warned that the opponents of Telangana will be "crushed under the chariot of Telangan". He targeted both the Congress and the TDP, saying their doublespeak was aimed at creating confusion among the people and blocking the creation of Telangana state.

Mohammed Siddique in Hyderabad