Ex-TDP leader Devender Goud launches new party

T Devender Goud, the former No 2 in the Telugu Desam Party, formally launched a new regional political party 'Nava Telangana Praja Party' by unveiling a colourful flag of the party, declaring that the formation of Telangana state was the goal of the party.

Exactly at 11.11 am, as per the advice of the astrologers, Goud lifted the curtain to display a wide screen with the grey coloured map of Telangana in the midst of blue, with a book, a plough, a shovel and burning torch superimposed on it.

"We have launched the party to provide a political platform of their own to the people of Telangana to fight for justice and their rights," declared Goud after hoisting the party's flag at his residence, which is doubling as the party's temporary office.

Charging the main political parties, especially the Congress and the TDP, with ignoring the problems and sufferings of the Telangana people and sidelining their issues, Goud said, "These parties have always tried to stifle the voice of the Telangana people. Even if any leader within these parties tried to raise the issue of injustices with the region, he was also strangulated and pushed to the sidelines."

Goud also appealed to the people of Andhra that they should part ways with the Telangana as brothers. "Let us divide as brothers instead of quarreling every day," he said.

Elaborating on the party's flag, he said that the blue represents the availability of abundant water in the river Godavari and Krishna, which passes through Telangana but the region does not get any benefit from it.

"The grey coloured map of Telangana represents the parched land thirsty for irrigation water. Not only does the region not get the irrigation water, even drinking water is not available to the people. In some areas of the region, the people are forced to drinking fluoride affected water," he said.

The book represents the commitment of the new party to ensure free of cost education to each and every child of the region to equip them with the tools required for today's competitive world and create a knowledge society, Goud said.

Similarly the plough and the shovel represents the issues and problems faced by the farmers and the laborers, who constitute the majority of Telangana people. "The condition of the farmers is so pathetic in Telangana because of non availability of water that even a person holding 10 acres of land is forced to work as an agriculture labourer," he said.

The burning torch (Mashaal) is the most important a key symbol. It represents the burning desire of the people of Telangana for their own state and a spirit to fight for their cause. The party will strive to increase the political awareness among the people," he said.

The moment Goud was formally launching the party, his colleague E Peddi Reddy was meeting the Election Commission in New Delhi to get the party formally registered. "We will announce the executive committee of the party very soon," he said.

Goud, a three-time legislator and senior former minister in TDP, resigned from the party on June 23 as a protest against the TDP's opposition to the demand for Telangana.

Replying to a question about the possibility of his joining like-minded Telangana parties including Telangana Rashtra Samiti of K Chandrasekhara Rao, he said the party will now focus on agitation and take up the issue of tie-ups at the time of the elections.

Goud's initiative has evoked enthusiastic response from various quarters specially from the intellectuals, academicians, students and women in the region.