T voice echoes in Delhi

• National leaders warn Centre that T people can't wait any longer
• TJAC Chalo Sansad programme draws all-party support
• Kodandaram threatens to intensify agitation
• Suravaram asks people to wage a united struggle

A A galaxy of political leaders, ranging from CPI general secretary Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy, NCP general secretary D P Tripathi, Forward Bloc general secretary Debabrata Biswas, BJP Spokesman Prakash Javadekar, Andhra Pradesh BJP leaders Bandaru Dattatreya and Ch Vidyasagar Rao and Nagam Janardhan Reddy, who is all set to join the BJP, Suryam and Goverdhan, leaders of New democracy and TRS leaders Etela Rajender, and K T Rama Rao along with more than a dozen other legislators of that party attended the Chalo Sansad programme

Venkat Parsa

New Delhi : Leaders of different political parties joined TJAC on Monday at the national capital and warned the Centre against dilly-dallying on the issue of Telangana any longer. The people of Telangana would not brook any further delay, they thundered in unison. They were participating in the Chalo Sansad programme organised by TJAC at Jantar Mantar. A TJAC Chairman Prof. M Kodandaram said if the Centre did not heed to the popular demand of the four crore people of Telangana, then the TJAC would intensify its struggle for achieving the goal of separate Telangana.

Mainstream Editor Sumit Chakravarthy kickstarted the two-day dharna. A galaxy of political leaders, ranging from CPI general secretary Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy, NCP general secretary D P Tripathi, Forward Bloc general secretary Debabrata Biswas, BJP Spokesman Prakash Javadekar, Andhra Pradesh BJP leaders Bandaru Dattatreya and Ch Vidyasagar Rao and Nagam Janardhan Reddy, who is all set to join the BJP, Suryam and Goverdhan, leaders of New democracy and TRS leaders Etela Rajender, and K T Rama Rao along with more than a dozen other legislators of that party attended the Chalo Sansad programme.

Sumit Chakravarthy said Telangana would be achieved and no power could stop it. It is a just struggle. The First States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) had recommended it and even Justice B N Srikrishna Committee was also supportive of it. Nearly four crore people of Telangana are waiting for it and if not today, it will happen tomorrow.Telangana was a separate country at one time and there should not be any objection to make it a separate state, he added.

Addressing the gathering, Suravaram said it was unprecedented that such a prolonged and yet peaceful struggle had been going on in Telangana. Nearly 1,000 people gave up their lives and almost all political parties are supporting the cause of Telangana. Congress promised creation of separate state twice in 2004 and 2009 by including the issue in its poll manifesto but deceived the people, he said.

The Congress has been dilly-dallying on Telangana. It has proposed Telangana with Hyderabad or without Hyderabad or even suggested Rayala-Telangana, all in a bid to create confusion in public mind. But such tactics would not succeed, he said. Cautioning against the Congress designs, Sudhakar Reddy asked the people to wage a united struggle for Telangana and he promised that the CPI would back such a struggle.

Prakash Javadekar, who was BJP in-charge of Andhra Pradesh in the past, said if so many parties had united for the cause of Telangana, it showed that the Telangana sentiment was strong. Daring the Government to bring the Bill on Telangana, he said, "If there is will the Congress must bring the Bill." He announced that top rung leaders of his party will be visiting the dharna site on Tuesday. KTR said from RSS to RSU every party was supportive of the demand. He lambasted T Congress leaders saying they hold meetings in the name of Telangana but only indulge in dinner parties.

Debabrata Biswas said the three states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand were formed, because there was the backing of the corporates. Telangana has no backing of the corporates, which is why there is no positive response from the Centre on the demand for Telangana. When there was no objection from the Centre on the formation of the three States, why were objections being raised on Telangana, he asked.

Dr Subramaniam Swamy of Janata Party addressed the crowd in the evening and wondered when Telangana was not in Pakistan why a new state could not be created. "It is the birth right of Telangana people to have their own state. I fact there should be fifty states in the country" he said.

There was a huge crowd of more than three thousand people on Monday at jantar Mantar. While majority of them had come from the state, good number of people joined in Delhi. Cultural teams enlivened the programme with their performances. Dharna will conclude on Tuesday evening.