The Hindu : Front Page : Gadar named Telangana Praja Front president

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Sunday, Oct 10, 2010
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Gadar named Telangana Praja Front president

Special Correspondent

It is a political force and not a party, says ballad singer

Gadar addresses a public meeting in Hyderabad on Saturday.

HYDERABAD: A new outfit to fight for the cause of separate Telangana was formally launched on Saturday in the name of Telangana Praja Front (TPF) with ballad singer Gadar as president.

The TPF is not a political party in the strict sense, but a political force formed to struggle and achieve the demand of statehood to the region, Gadar told a meeting articulating the view of the presidium which conducted the proceedings. He said it was a front which aimed at uniting all Telangana-based joint action committees (JACs) that went into the background in the past few months.

Gadar will head an 85-member ad hoc steering committee initially with three representatives from each district and activists of different organisations. Most of them had fallen off from Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) in the past.

Gadar was declared president after seven-and-a-half hours of speeches by a large number of staunch Telangana supporters, a majority of whom did not want TPF to enter electoral politics, but confine itself to achieving the goal through struggles. Echoing the sentiment of this group which mostly comprised university students, a resolution read out by Gadar said struggles right up to village level would be the driving force of the organisation.

He said a decision on contesting elections would be taken when they were to be held. A few activists, notably Vimala, wife of CPI-ML (Janashakti) secretary Amar, pitched for participation in elections as statehood for Telangana would be facilitated by representation in Parliament and Assembly.

The meeting saw students threatening to withdraw support to TPF if it plunged into elections. They said the organisation would fade out if it acquired political colour. They also said it was proven in the last few years that victory of any number of MPs and MLAs on the slogan of Telangana was no guarantee for statehood.

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