In a bid to carry forward the momentum created by the resignations of Telangana MLAs and MPs, the Telangana Joint Action Committee has called for a 48-hour strike in the region from Tuesday.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the TJAC attended by the representatives of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, the Bharatiya Janata Party, CPIML New Democracy and the JAC of the government employees and the teachers.
Briefing the media after the meeting TJAC convenor Professor Kodanda Ram said that the agitation will be further intensified and it will not stop till the Centre announces the tabling of Telangana state bill in Parliament.
TRS President K Chandrasekhar Rao said that the general strike, involving the employees of the state and the central government as well as the public sector undertakings on Tuesday and Wednesday will be followed by students procession on Wednesday all over the region.
It will be followed by Rail Roko program on 8 and 9 July and "cooking on the roads" program in all the nine districts of the region. Rao said that the Rail Roko will effectively paralysed all the rail links of southern India with the other parts of the country. "All the trains passing through Telangana will be stopped", he said.
Rao said that the general strike will have the full support of all the parties. "Nagam Janardhan Reddy (suspended TDP leader) and former minister K Venkat Reddy have also announced their support to the strike," he said.
Lauding the resignation by more than 100 public representatives, Rao said that it was unprecedented in the history of the country. "Even now the Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and the central government have failed to give a proper response," he said. Referring to Chidambaram's statement on Monday that the central government will take a decision only after completing the consultative process, he said, "It has pained all the people of Telangana". He warned that if even now the Centre does not respond, Telangana will witness a 1969 like situation when 300 people died in a violent agitation for Telangana.
Prof Ram praised the elected representatives for quitting their seats for the sake of Telangana. "Those who have still not resigned should do so immediately. Otherwise they will face the wrath of the people," he said.
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