| Ex-sarpanch, who submitted a resolution in 1955, takes part |
Party to submit the signatures to the President
They offer prayers before participating in yatra
Pressing their demand: BJP State president Bandaru Dattatreya flagging off the signature campaign yatra at Yadagirigutta in Nalgonda district on Thursday. —
YADAGIRIGUTTA (Nalgonda): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday launched a signature campaign in support of separate Telangana in this village which is the foothill of the abode of the famous Laxminarasinha Swamy temple.
The campaign kicked off with a 15-day yatra undertaken by BJP national secretary N. Indrasena Reddy. It was flagged off by State president Bandaru Dattatreya.
The party leaders and activists offered prayers to the presiding deity of the shrine uphill before participants in the yatra commenced their journey to collect thousands of signatures from people in 300 villages across 25 mandals of Nalgonda district till January 20. The party will take up a similar campaign in other Telangana districts from Friday. A large number of BJP workers will carry the signatures to Delhi by a special train for submission to the President of India next month.
Special attractionAn attraction of the event was the presence of a former village sarpanch Vemula Laxminarsaiah, who had handed over to Fazal Ali, chairman of the States Reorganisation Commission, a resolution passed by Yadagirigutta gram panchayat demanding separate Telangana in 1955.
Mr. Laxminarsaiah, who is 83, was sarpanch from 1955 to 1995. He said he had followed up the resolution by personally calling on Fazal Ali at Delhi but the latter gave no commitment.
Mr. Dattatreya told a public meeting that the yatra was aimed at mounting pressure on the Centre to concede separate Telangana before next elections. It was not a political or an election stunt.
Mr. Indrasena Reddy said the campaign was launched to make the demand for Telangana State heard in political circles in Delhi.
He expressed confidence that the BJP will return to power and concede the demand.
Former Union Minister Ch. Vidyasagar Rao said the BJP would not allow the slogan of separate State to die down though attempts were made in that direction by trying to bring to the centre-stage of politics film stars like Chiranjeevi and Balakrishna.
No comments:
Post a Comment