Telangana activists seek fruits of labour from TRS

Warangal: It seems trouble appears to be brewing for the TRS leadership with those leaders, who have been with the party since its inception, demanding rightful share in tickets and allowing them to contest in the ensuing elections.

Several TRS leaders, who gathered here at a private hotel on Sunday, pledged their support to senior advocate Gudimalla Ravi Kumar and urged the party chief K Chandrashekar Rao to give preference to those Telangana activists, who braved police lathis, faced cases and sacrificed their fruitful years for the sake of separate State movement.

Senior leader Jannu Jakaria, the party in-charge of Warangal and Narsampet constituencies in the early days of TRS, said that Gudimalla, who has been with the party since 2001, is the right candidate to field from Warangal East seat. “Gudimalla not only participated in the T Movement but also helped the TRS workers, who faced Statehood cases. He secured bail to almost all the top leaders of the TRS including KCR, Harish and KTR during the movement,” he said.

Besides being a local, Gudimalla also commands the support of several trade unions such as auto-rickshaw drivers etc, Jakaria said, urging the party leadership to consider former’s candidature for East ticket.

Another T activist and advocate Sridhar said: “It’s unfortunate that while those leaders, who didn’t actively participate in the separate movement, were given plum posts, the real workers were ignored.”

He alleged that leaders like Kadiyam Srihari have played their role in suppressing the real activists of Telangana. “If Gudimalla is given East ticket, the cadre is ready to work to get a majority of one lakh to him,” he asserted.

Gudimalla Ravi Kumar said: “In thick and thin, I have been with the party. Despite conspiracies by the then rulers to dilute the separate state movement, leaders like me fought hard under the leadership of KCR.” After Telangana formation, some of the activists were given prominent posts. It’s difficult to accommodate all the leaders in the government, he said, urging the TRS chief KCR to do justice to genuine party activists.

Although it was disappointing to miss the Warangal Lok Sabha seat in the by-poll in 2015, I worked hard for the win of the TRS candidate, Gudimalla said. “I met KTR and urged him to give ticket for the Warangal East seat. I hope that party would take an appropriate decision so that to instil confidence among the party workers that sincerity, seniority and loyalty will always pay off,” Gudimalla said.

He urged the leaders who are already enjoying positions in the government to encourage party activists who have been with the party for many years.