Telangana Stir: Consensus Awaited

The C-word is haunting the Telangana movement like never before. The Congress at the centre has now tossed the word “consensus” into the ring, as party spokespersons have made it clear that the way forward can only be decided after an all-party meet. AP’s CM Rosaiah will assess the situation in the all-party meeting.

Those attending the meet include TRS leaders Eetela and Harish Rao, TDP leaders Nagam, Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Gali Muddukrishnama Naidu, Lok Satta supreme Jayaprakash Narayan, CPI leader Gunda Mallesh, CPM leader Julakanti Rangareddy, PRP chief Chiranjeevi, and BJP leader Kishan Reddy.

The urgency of a consensus cannot be stressed upon enough. This afternoon, in one of the most violent turns this week’s Telangana movement has taken, the police resorted to a lathicharge at the Osmania University campus. Journalists were targeted, but even students had to bear with a few blows. Lawyers and students rose in protest, and the State Human Rights Commission, too entered the scene.

Today, the first day of the winter session (during which a condolence meeting of YSR was being held), the Assembly was disrupted when a lathicharge on journalists on OU sparked off a vehement dharna in front of the Legislative Assembly.