KCR united all employees' unions during Telangana agitation: Srinivas Goud
Hyderabad: Excise minister V. Srinivas Goud, who led the agitation programmes of Telangana employees unions as the president of Telangana Gazetted Officers Association (TGOs), credited Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao for bringing all employee unions under one umbrella to put up a unified fight to achieve statehood for Telangana, when he launched TRS in 2001.
Rao's meticulous planning coupled with the readiness of employees to sacrifice their jobs for the cause played a key role in achieving statehood to Telangana.
"Our collective efforts motivated employees, helped in garnering the support of all the unions to launch a united fight which stepped up pressure on the then state and central governments to grant statehood to Telangana region without any further delay," Goud recalled, while speaking to this newspaper.
TGOs Association was formed in 2007 with Goud elected as the founder-president. The association intensified efforts to bring pressure on the Congress government to implement GO 610 to send back non-locals working in Hyderabad to their native districts.
“We had a meeting with the then chief minister Y.S. Rajashekara Reddy on implementation of GO 610. The Telangana agitation was going on in several forms since the 1950s but no one was sure whether statehood to Telangana would become a reality one day. When Chandrashekar Rao gave a call to the people to fight for statehood in 2001, there was a glimmer of hope. Under his leadership, the agitation reached its peak. Various agitation programmes such as non-cooperation with the participation of people were undertaken. We government employees spent money from our pockets to meet the expenses to take part in agitation programmes across Telangana. We did not turn back till we achieved our goal," he recounts.
"The Supreme Court's free zone judgment took the statehood agitation to the next level. KCR's fast unto death agitation on November 29, 2009 changed the dynamics of the agitation," Goud said.
“In an attempt to achieve statehood, we also met then BJP president Rajnath Singh in Delhi. I also warned the then ruling Congress party that it would not survive if a decision on Telangana state formation was not made sooner,” he said.
“In April 2013, we, as a JAC, protested in Delhi and our voice was heard across India. While we were agitating near the Parliament, police caned and arrested us. It did not deter us. Telangana state was acquired by sacrifices," Goud said.
