More trouble seems to be in store for Andhra Pradesh next week as the state government and the employees of Telangana region are heading towards a clash over an indefinite strike in support of a separate state.
While the N Kiran Kumar Reddy government is planning to invoke the Essential Services Maintenance Act to foil the strike, employees from Andhra and Rayalseema have volunteered to work during the strike.
The Andhra Pradesh Non Gazetted Officers Union, which is opposing the bifurcation of the state and the carving out of Telangana, has said that its members will not cooperate in the indefinite strike called by Telangana employees, officers, teachers and workers Joint Action Committee from August 17.
The state committee of the APNGO, at its meeting in Tirupati on Monday, passed a resolution saying that if the government provides the necessary security; its members will attend their duties during the strike.
APNGO president Gopal Reddy said that the union had rejected the appeal of the Telangana employees JAC seeking support for their indefinite hunger strike as the demand for a separate Telangana state was "politically motivated".
Union general secretary Ashok Kumar said that they were committed to a united Andhra Pradesh.
"The government has every right to take action against those employees who take their salaries from the public exchequer if they don't attend their duties," he said.
The APNGO's stance has angered many in Telangana region.
Rebel Telugu Desam Party legislator Nagam Janardhan Reddy has warned employees of grave consequences if they try to attend their offices during the strike. He advised all such employees to return to their homes in Andhra and Rayalseema once the strike starts.
The plan of the state government to resort to strong-arm tactics against Telangana employees has evoked a negative reaction from different quarters including the ruling Congress party.
Two senior Members of Parliament K Keshav Rao and Gutta Sukhinder Reddy have strongly criticised plans of invoking the ESMA.
"It is undemocratic to suppress the rights of the employees to strike," said Reddy.
Telangana Joint Action Committee convenor Professor Kodanda Ram warned that the state and the central government, especially Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, will be responsible for the consequences of the indefinite strike.
Telangana employees, officers, teachers and workers Joint Action Committee convenor Swamy Goud has dismissed the threat of ESMA, saying it was inconsequential to the employees who were willing to go to jail for a separate state. He gave a call to all employees of Telangana region to stop consuming liquor to make a dent in government revenues with immediate effect.
The protest plans of the JAC started unfolding from Monday with employees holding demonstrations during the lunch break.
The government plans to tackle the indefinite strike by deploying police and paramilitary forces at all important offices in the region to provide security to those employees willing to work.
But even before the indefinite strike starts, the region will get to experience yet another bandh. The Osmania University Students Joint Action Committee has called for a bandh on August 10 to demand an end to the "Free Zone" status of Hyderabad city in the matter of recruitments.
