This Article is From Dec 27, 2010

Telangana factor prompts the Congress to fast

Hyderabad: Hunger strikes are very much the go-to strategy for politicians in Andhra Pradesh trying to make any sort of point.

Chandrababu Naidu's eight-day hunger strike demanding better compensation for farmers affected by floods overlapped with Jagan Mohan Reddy's 48-hour fast for the same cause. Now, it's the Congress that's turning away food - for Telangana.

11 Congress MPs from the Telangana region have decided that they will fast till the government withdraws police cases against protestors who resorted to violence and arson last December while fronting a separatist campaign.

"Unless and until the state government gives a firm assurance in written that the cases are being withdrawn, we will not call off our indefinite strike,'' said Rajgopal Reddy, one of the Congress MPs on a hunger strike.

Last week, the Congress government scrapped close to 500 cases involving pro-Telangana protestors.  Today, blackmailed by its own MPs, the government withdrew another 135 cases. The end justifies the means, apparently. 

"135 cases means 900 people who are involved, will be freed," declared Jana Reddy, a minister.

The arguably indiscriminate support is carefully timed. In a matter of days, the Centre will decide on whether a separate state should be sanctioned for Telangana. The conclusion will depend largely on the report of the Sri Krishna Committee, appointed after a political debacle last year.

Last December, Home Minister P Chidambaram said that a state of Telangana had been sanctioned. The government had been informed that political parties within Andhra Pradesh were in favour of a new state. However, after Chidambaram's announcement, there was a huge backlash from MPs and MLAs from non-Telangana regions against the bifurcation of the state. So, local political parties reversed out of their original stand. 

The union government then set up the Sri Krishna Committee to talk to different representatives on the issue.

In Delhi, the Congress said today that it is not opposed to smaller states, allowing hope for its members from Telangana. In the last few months, they have been confronted with protests each time they're visited their constituencies, demanding that they up the ante for a state of their own.

Those fasting make it clear that they're not trying to embarrass the new Chief Minister, Kiran Kumar Reddy, who is now experiencing the sort of dissidence that made his predecessor, K Rosaiah quit last month.  ``It is to bring my own moral pressure on my own government, on my own colleagues to see that they are saved. That is all. No politics is involved,'' says Keshava Rao.

His party is likely to take that with a pinch of salt. 

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