GO 177: Kodandaram To Intensify Stir

Accusing the state government of trying to suppress the legitimate voice of its employees, Telangana Political Joint Action Committee Convenor Prof. Kodandaram on Tuesday demanded that the government withdraw the controversial GO 177 or prepare itself to face an intensified agitation.

Incidentally, the state cabinet has already put the controversial GO 177 in abeyance, but has not withdrawn it.

Talking to media persons at the Joint Action Committee office at New MLA quarters in Adarshnagar, Kodandaram said that the intensified agitation would see employees submitting memorandums to the collectors in the 10 districts of the Telangana region on April 21st.

The Telangana JAC leaders and employees would then organize awareness camps on the GO 177 and the 8th chapter of the Justice Srikrishna Committee report on April 22nd, he said.

On April 23rd, JAC leaders, along with Telangana employees, will take out a candlelight and torchlight procession on the Tank Bund in the city, as part of the sustained protest against GO 177, he added.

Kodandaram further said that leaders of the Telangana JAC Steering Committee would proceed to New Delhi on April 25th to participate in a round-table conference at Jawaharlal Nehru University on the need for a separate Telangana state.

The JAC Convenor further added that a National level Telangana Joint Action Committee will be formed in New Delhi on the same day.

The Steering Committee leaders will meet top leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other political parties to seek their support for the introduction of the Telangana Bill in Parliament.

Kodandaram accused that the government had issued the GO 177 to curb the employees' freedom of expression, and to prevent them from participating in the agitations and strikes on the separate Telangana statehood demand.

Stating that the order was part of the government's efforts to "water down" the separate statehood agitation, Kodandaram warned the government that it should not re-install the statues of Telugu luminaries on Tank Bund that were damaged during the Million March on March 10. (INN)