RTC strike: Government should not arm-twist

Warangal: Various organisations took out a rally in support of TSRTC employees' strike that entered 34th day on Thursday, demanding the State government to reconcile over the issues.

Speaking at a meeting presided over by the Matsya Karmika Sangham State president Mottaka Kumaraswamy and CITU district general secretary Ragula Ramesh demanded the government to stop its intimidating tactics and resume talks with the RTC employees, who have been fighting for their demands.

"The government's focus is on privatising the RTC and selling of its assets. It's not fair for Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao to ignore the justifiable demands of RTC staff. Even though the RTC employee JAC is ready for talks, the government is dillydallying with the issue intentionally," he said. If the government is not predetermined, the talks would end in an amicable way, he added.

Referring to KCR's threat to privatise RTC 100 percent if the employees withdrew their strike, BKMU State general secretary T Venkatramulu said that the government was resorting to arm-twisting methods. He said that if the RTC is privatised, it will transform into people's issue. In such case, KCR will have to pay price for it, he said.

KCR used to fault the police department during the separate State movement, but now he is ruling the State with the help of police, Venkatramulu said. He found fault with KCR for stating that he would move to Supreme Court if he gets unfavourable judgment in the High Court. The other leaders demanded the government to take responsibility of the RTC employees' death.

K Yada Naik (CITU), M Linga Reddy (BKMU), Aroori Kumar (KVPS), U Nageshwara Rao, B Santhosh (SFI) D Tirupathi (DYFI), L Deepa and Aruna (AIDWA), K Chiranjeevi (AIYF) and a host of leaders belonging to various organisations participated in the rally from 1,000 Pillars temple to Ashoka Theatre Junction.