Hyderabad, Dec 24 (IANS) Setting aside their differences, all the political parties and various groups in Telangana Thursday came together to launch a united struggle to achieve separate statehood for the region.
The Congress, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and groups of students, teachers, employees and women fighting for Telangana state formed a Joint Action Committee (JAC), a day after the central government put the process for formation of the state on hold.

As violent demonstrations raged through parts of Hyderabad and nine other districts of the region, the leaders rising above the political affiliations met here to form the JAC.

The meeting, presided over by M. Kodandaram of Telangana Intellectuals Forum, was attended by TRS chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao, senior Congress leader G. Venkatswamy, TDP leader Rajeswar Rao, BJP’s Vidyasagar Rao and others.

To be headed by Kodandaram, the JAC will meet again Friday to decide its course of action.

The JAC urged the central government to immediately initiate the constitutional process for the formation of the state as promised by it in a Dec 9 statement.

“This is the first time in five-decade long movement that all the parties have come together. We only want the centre to clarify whether it is ready to give Telangana or not. If it is not ready then people know how to achieve it,” TRS ideologue K. Jayashankar said.