CM acting like Churchill, flays Chukka

• Says Kiran pressing lame excuses to thwart bifurcation
• TRLD holds round-table on T reconstruction, women issues
• Demand to urbanise T towns to ease pressure on Hyd

Hyderabad: Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy was likened with former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who was not ready to give up his claim over India, citing lame excuses - the security of natives.

Countering the apprehensions, raised by Kiran Reddy and other Seemandhra leaders, that Telangana would become a Naxal-infested State after bifurcation, educationist Chukka Ramaiah held that the people of Telangana would be happy with that nomenclature rather than continue to live in the united State.

The renowned educationist was speaking at a round-table conference organised by Telangana Rashtriya Lok Dal (TRLD) on ‘Telangana Reconstruction and Women’s Role.’ He said that becoming a Naxalite was not that easy as was being perceived many. But if the leaders like Kiran Reddy continue to cite this as the reason for holding up the State together, he said that ‘everyone should become one’.

Recalling how women sacrificed their lives under the feudal system, he said they never hesitated to take on the mighty landlords by becoming part of the armed struggle. “Not only women took up arms, but in Telangana’s history they inspired generations of activists with their folk songs”, the former MLC said.

TRLD honorary president Indira Dileep Kumar said that the new state of Telangana would not be complete if the women’s issues were not taken into consideration. She held that the women working on contract and outsourcing basis should be regularised in the government departments. Passing of women’s reservation bill in parliament would ensure their political representation. She also demanded that banks be launched with funds of Rs 1,000 crore in all the districts under Nirbhaya Act.

Telangana Jana Parishad convenor Keshava Rao Jadhav recalled how women fought battles not only at national-level, but also against the invading Bahmani Army for Golconda. According to him, a 20-year-old Yadava woman-led 5,000 soldiers, fought bravely and sacrificed herself for Golconda. “She was, perhaps, one of the bravest women in T during that period,” he said. Jadhav asked people to be careful referring to the history of Telangana, as the state of affairs in Nizam’s State was totally under the control of Qasim Rizvi, when India got Independence. “The last years before the merger of Hyderabad wit India had nothing to do with Nizam. It was Rizvi, who was responsible for all the mayhem”, he said.

Welfare Party city convener (women’s wing) Azmat Qayyum demanded that Telangana should be complete only with its existing borders, and nothing less would be compromised. “Telangana is Hyderabad and Hyderabad is Telangana”, she said. In the newly-formed state, women must be given equal rights, which, she said, was only possible when reservation was provided to women proportionally.

MLC K Dileep Kumar endorsed the view of Chukka Ramaiah on Naxals and hoped that the newly-formed government would start the process of urbanization in all major towns in Telangana for minimising strain on Hyderabad. “We must transform all urban centres into cities, which require financial assistance to the tune of Rs 1 lakh crore for each town from the Central government,” he said.