Congress MLAs hold out Feb deadline for Telangana

Congress members of the legislative assembly from Telangana have set a February deadline for the Union government to table the Telangana Bill in Parliament, failing which they would tender their resignations. This decision came at a meeting that saw the participation of 60 Congress leaders in Hyderabad on Friday evening.

The legislators have decided to keep the agitation on until a separate state was formed. "The Union government can take time till February to make a decision, but the solution should be the formation of a separate state. We are ready to quit from our posts if our demands are not fulfilled,' said the Congress leaders.        

Meanwhile, in order to curb the violence at the Osmania University campus, Hyderabad Police Commissioner AK Khan has issued strict guidelines to all media houses that no images that will provoke the public should be published or broadcast. He also directed the media to be sensitive to the job that the police was undertaking.

The State Human Rights Commission directed the police to move away from the Osmania University campus as it felt that they were infringing upon the rights of the students who were carrying out a legitimate protest. In response to this, the police said they had to take stringent action since persons not concerned with the movement were barging into the campus and trying to cause disturbances. The commission passed the order based on a petition that there was too much police atrocity against the students in Osmania University and the police forces should be withdrawn.

The students also said that they wanted to stage a peaceful protest, but the police was unnecessarily provoking them so that the agitation turns violent. The commission, apart from ordering the police to move away from the campus, has also asked the Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police K Aravinda Rao to explain his action against the students.

Meanwhile, leaders of the Telangana Rashtriya Samiti met Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy and briefed him about the situation on the campus. They also demanded that the police forces be withdrawn immediately from the university.

Barring a major protest in which the Congress office at Warangal was attacked, sporadic incidents of agitation were reported from other parts of the state.