Handloom and Textiles Minister Dr P Shankar Rao demanded an all-party meeting to discuss the Sakala Janula Samme, the general strike of employees demanding Telangana State.
Talking to reporters at the Congress Legislature Party Office here on Wednesday, the Minister appealed Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and incharge of AP Congress affairs and Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad to convene an all-party meeting at the earliest as the general strike has entered 30th day on Wednesday. He said immediate resolution of Telangana issue was inevitable as many youth have committed suicide for the cause of Telangana and people need to be assured that the Centre was making efforts to resolve the issue.
Dr Shankar Rao also condemned the booking of cases against Employees JAC chairman Swamy Goud, TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao and other leaders. He said the cases were booked under serious and non-bailable offences which was wrong.
The Minister claimed that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was in favour of Telangana. Although some UPA leaders are trying to give an impression that she might oppose Telangana as she has been facing a similar demand for Darjeeling State, he hoped that she would support Telangana due to the variation and intensity of both the demands.
Dr Shankar Rao appealed to the employees to withdraw the strike as the Centre has started the consultation process to resolve the issue. He also asked the T-JAC to reduce the Rail Roko agitation duration from three days.