NEW DELHI: Bringing his fight to the national capital, TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday held a sit-in at Rajghat to highlight Telangana statehood demand and rejected the government’s decision to hold “further consultation”.
He also asked the Congress to make up its mind on the statehood issue. Rao, the political face of the pro-Telangana movement, and his supporters held the sit-in and ‘observed silence’ at Rajghat for a few hours on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti to highlight the “grave situation” in Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh.
Scores of TRS cadres and statehood supporters descended upon Rajghat at around 10 AM, where earlier top leaders joined a prayer meeting on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti.
Rao, who is camping here since Friday hoping to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other senior UPA Ministers demanding an early decision on the separate state issue, said there was no need for “further consultations” on it.
“I will meet the Prime Minister to tell him what is happening in Telangana. I will also tell him that people are suffering there and an early decision on Telangana is the need of the hour,” he told reporters after holding the sit-in.
“What is the need for further consultations? How long will they take for a decision? Our people are suffering and dying in Telangana and here people want discussions. We need Telangana, not comforting words,” he said when asked to comment on the government’s contention that “further consultations” were needed on the issue. Hyderabad-based Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) chief Prof Kothandaram and some of its members had also joined Rao. TRS MLA and Rao’s son K T Ramarao told PTI that there was no need for further consultation on the issue (PTI)