Telangana issue: Elites appeal to all parties

Hyderabad, Jun 28 (UNI) A meeting of intellectuals, convened by former Andhra Pradesh home minister T Devender Goud, today appealed to all parties to give up their ''double standards'' and facilitate formation of a separate Telagana state.

The meeting, christened 'Telangana Sadana Samiti', unanimously adopted a resolution to this effect moved by Mr V Prakash, who quit as Telangana Rashtra Samiti general secretary to join hands with Mr Goud to realise the goal.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi had promised to concede the demand, it claimed, adding that the issue was included in the President's speech and the United Progressive Alliance Government's Common Minimum Programme and a panel was formed under the chairmanship of External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

After four years, statehood for Telagnana still remained a dream.

On the other hand, the Opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) was also adopting ''delay tactics'' by constituting a committee similar to the one formed by the Congress, it lamented.

The Congress in the past had supressed the decades-long democratic struggles of Telanganites, claiming the lives of thousands of people and rendering the sons of the soil ''second class citizens'' in their own homeland.

The meeting also adopted a resolution in memory of the martyrs who had laid down their lives for the cause.

UNI SM SK NS1853