Thaindian News

Hyderabad, June 19 (IANS) Politicians, government employees, doctors, lawyers, IT professionals and students came together on Hyderabad’s roads Sunday for ‘vanta vaarpu’ or a cook-and-eat agitation to demand a separate Telangana state.

Intensifying the movement for statehood for Andhra Pradesh’s Telangana region, the Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) staged the unique protest to urge the central government to immediately initiate the process for carving out a separate state.

Hundreds of people from all walks of life set up kitchens on roads, cooked food and ate it. Men joined hands with women in preparing breakfast and lunch at several places in the city and the outskirts.

While various groups made arrangements on a massive scale for cooking food, families set up small kitchens with gas stoves. The dishes ranged from vegetable to chicken and mutton curries.

The protestors also participated in cultural activities like singing Telangana folk songs and dance.

The protest was peaceful as police did not try to confront the protestors. The flow of traffic was affected in some areas but no major disruption was reported.

JAC convenor M. Kodandaram and Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) president K. Chandrasekhara Rao led the protest along with his family members.

Former actress and TRS MP Vijayshanti, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Bandaru Dattatreya, Telugu Desam Party’s suspended leader Nagam Janardhan Reddy and leaders of various associations of government employees participated in the protest.

KCR, as the TRS chief is popularly known, participated in the protest near Indo American Cancer Institute and Research Centre in Banjara Hills. Talking to reporters, he said that if Congress MPs and state legislators resigned for a separate state, he would ensure their re-election.

“A Telangana state can be achieved through sacrifice and not through lobbying,” he said, referring to Congress leaders’ recent visit to Delhi.

The MP said the Congress would be committing a suicide in Telangana if it refuses to carve out a separate state. The TRS leader also warned the central government that if it further delayed the formation of a Telangana state, the movement could take a violent turn like the 1969 movement.

Earlier, TRS legislator Harish Rao launched the protest at Hyderabad Information Technology Engineering Consultancy City, the information technology hub. Employees of IT companies also participated in the protest.

The TRS chief’s daughter Kavita, who heads the cultural wing of the party, and his legislator son Tarakarama Rao also took part in the protest.

“This is the beginning of the final phase of the Telangana movement and people want to convey to the central government that it should immediately form a separate state,” she told reporters.

Leaders of various associations of government employees in Telangana set up a huge kitchen near Telangana Martyrs’ Memorial in front of the state assembly building in the heart of the city.