MUNI THE BOSS

Barely hours after Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy appealed to the opposition parties to cooperate with the The TRS chief said Telangana movement had not slowed down as was being made out. 'We have been fighting for Telangana for the last 10 years. We will fight for another two years. The movement is very strong otherwise it would not have survived this long,' he said. Since he has not been calling upon people to resort to violence, there has been a campaign that the movement has cooled off. 'If we give such calls, they say we are making Talibans,' he said. The movement had neither cooled down nor hotted up.
Barely hours after Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy appealed to the opposition parties to cooperate with the government in the conduct of Racchabanda beginning tomorrow, Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) chief K Chandrasekhar Rao has called upon people to boycott the programme as it is 'intended to divert public attention from Telangana issue'. 'Drive them away from your villages. Let the MPs, MLAs boycott the programme. Let our dissent be a slap on the face of Delhi,' Chandrasekhar Rao said after releasing a diary brought out by the Telangana Vidyavantula Vedika here. TJAC chairman Prof M Kodandaram and BJP state president G Kishan Reddy were among those present.
He came down heavily on Telangana Congress leaders, particularly MLAs and ministers, for getting ready to take part in Racchabanda. 'A great moment has come for you to prove your commitment to Telangana. You resign and bring pressure on the Centre. Your name will go down in the history as the one who fought and secured Telangana. The positions you are holding now are nothing before the name that you will earn if you become an instrument in securing Telangana state,' he said.

He did not hide his displeasure over the Congress MLAs and ministers trying not to hurt the party high command. 'You are still living with a slave mentality. These positions of power are temporary. Don't think they are the be-all and end-all,' he said. The Racchabanda programme is intended to turn people as beggars. 'The government says it will give ration cards and pensions. If we get a Telangana state, we can have them. What is great about it?' Rao said. The TRS chief said Telangana movement had not slowed down as was being made out. 'We have been fighting for Telangana for the last 10 years. We will fight for another two years. The movement is very strong otherwise it would not have survived this long,' he said. Since he has not been calling upon people to resort to violence, there has been a campaign that the movement has cooled off. 'If we give such calls, they say we are making Talibans,' he said. The movement had neither cooled down nor hotted up.

There is a qualitative difference in the character of the movement witnessed in 1969 and now. 'Those days, emotion used to dominate. It erupted and then calmed down. Now it is different altogether. We are moving forward resolutely but with a well laid out strategy. We know when to keep quiet and when and where to strike to make the Centre deliver Telangana,' he said.