Phailin takes wind out of Telangana storm

As the cyclone Phailin battered coastal Andhra and parts of Odisha, the political turbulence that had crippled Andhra Pradesh subsided with government workers returning to work to help deal with the natural calamity.

Several agencies including those responsible for electricity supply and transport services, resumed functioning. Large parts of the state had been without electricity and transport services were hit after government workers went on a strike against the Union government’s decision to split the state and create Telangana.

Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee chief Botsa Satyanarayana Rao, who also hails from the Seemandhra region, told HT, “The (anti-Telangana) agitations are over. Everyone is focused on the rescue operations. Everyone understands the gravity of the situation.”

State road transport (APSRTC) employees, who had been on strike for almost two months after the Congress brass gave a nod to splitting Andhra, returned to work and bus services resumed on Saturday.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister Kiran reddy, who was under fire for being not-so-active in curbing the anti-Telangana protests also held strategy meetings with top officials and party leaders to chalk out relief and rescue strategy.

In New Delhi, TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu was force fed and the sit-in demonstrations of his party against the bifurcation of the state also fizzled out.

The Andhra Pradesh Non-Gazetted Officers Association, however, announced that its strike would continue. “Some sections like power sector employees, teachers, the state secretariat employees and Road Transport Corporation staff, withdrew from the strike only temporarily as part of a strategy to avoid inconveniencing people. But we have not given up our agitation or the main demand for a united state,” APNGOs Association president P Ashok Babu said.

- HT