The 'mock Assembly' session, which was chaired by Harishwar Reddy, and was attended by 27 MLAs and 1 MLC from Telangana region, called for the Telangana bill.
"Our misfortune is that, despite having a historic building for Assembly, we are forced to conduct our session in a function hall because the Assembly is 'occupied' by the Seemandhra leaders," said TRS MLA K Taraka Rama Rao on Monday.
The 'mock Assembly' session, which was organized by the Telangana Journalists Forum at a function hall, was attended by 27 MLAs and 1 MLC from Telangana region (none from the Congress party).
The session saw former Deputy Speaker K Harishwar Reddy in the Chair.
KTR recalled that, "When Andhra Pradesh was formed, the Assembly session was conducted under a tent in Kurnool." and continued, "but now, we are forced to conduct it here (function hall), since the Assembly premises have been grabbed by the Seemandhra leaders."
The mood at the mock session was aptly reflected by TDP MLA Revanth Reddy, who quoted former Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru - "The Telugu speaking people should be allowed to part ways, and Andhra Pradesh should be bifurcated, if they desire, as 2 brothers of a family."
Revanth Reddy continued "The relationship between the people of Seemandhra and Telangana regions has not been brotherly, but has been like a business partnership. He added, "The Seemandhra leaders have deceived the Telangana people and have made money for themselves. Now, the Telangana people are demanding that the business partnership must end."
He also said that it was not correct to say that the state was created purely on linguistic basis. The TDP MLA questioned that if state was created on linguistic basis, then why wasn't any state created for the Urdu speaking people.
TRS MLA K Eshwar stated that an uproar was being raised over the damage to statues made of stones, while there was silence on the death of about 600 students who died for the sake of Telangana.
TDP MLA M Narasimhulu vowed that the martyrdom of 600 students would not be allowed to go waste. He said that, "the time has come for the leaders to become martyrs."
He said that if 100 out of the 117 MLAs decide to resign in favour of Telangana, the Centre will buckle under pressure and the separate state will be created. He added that the TDP MLAs are planning to hand over their resignation letters to Telangana Political Joint Action Committee (TPJAC) Convenor Kodandaram.
BJP MLA E Lakshminarayana said that Telangana cannot be created until political instability is created in the state.
TDP MLA Nagam Janardhan Reddy pointed out that the Fazal Ali Commission Report was, by itself, sufficient for the creation of Telangana, but the Congress had delayed the inevitable since it was not politically advantageous to it at that time.
Janardhan Reddy further blamed the Congress for the crisis in the state.
MLA Pocharam Srinivas, who had resigned from the TDP, said that the mock session was a historical one, and called upon all Telangana legislators to pledge that they will cut across political affiliations and join hands to ensure the creation of Telangana.
TRS Floor leader E Rajender stated that the people of Telangana have been suffering injustice through the decades. He advised the Congress to immediately introduce a bill in Parliament and create a separate state.
Earlier, Harishwar Reddy was ceremoniously escorted to the 'speaker's podium' by E Rajender, Janardhan Reddy and Lakshminarayana.
Harishwar Reddy stated that he was proud to have been elected the first Speaker of Telangana state.
The session then began with a two-minute silence was observed to pay homage to Telangana Martyrs, followed by 'Jai Telangana' slogans. The session lasted for 2 hours and 38 minutes.
Telangana Journalists Forum Convenor Allam Narayana briefed the attendees about the purpose of the Session. Prof. Kodandaram, Zaheeruddin Ali Khan, K Kavitha and Rama Melkote were among the 'observers' at the session.
Resolutions calling for a discussion on the following points were passed at the mock Assembly session:
1. The consequences in the state after Union Home Minister P Chidambaram's statement about Telangana state formation on December 9th, 2009
2. Police restrictions on the Million March organized by the Telangana Political Joint Action Committee.
3. Demolition of prominent statues on Tank Bund, and the after-developments and malicious campaign launched by Seemandhra leaders in the name of Telugu culture.
4. Agenda for Telangana state formation cutting across party-lines.
5. Introduction of the Telangana bill in Parliament.
The last resolution was passed unanimously, without any discussions.
Courtesy: INN