By Mohammed Siddique, TwoCircles.net,
Hyderabad : In an indication of rapid change in the political scene of Andhra Pradesh, the former senior leader of Telugu Desam, T Devender Goud today launched his new regional party to fight for separate Telangana state.
Formally unveiling the flag of “Nava Telangana Praja Party” on Friday, Goud said that his party will strive for the formation of Telangana state both at the political level as well as through agitations. “The party will take up the problems and issues of all sections of society including the Dalits, Tribal and Muslims”, he told the reporters on the occasion.
Goud, who had resigned from Telugu Desam on June 23 said that he was forced to launch the new party as the existing major parties including Congress and TDP were suppressing any voice coming up in support of Telangana and its people.
“The Congress has always cheated the people of Telangana and used them only as a voter at the time of the elections. Now the TDP is also doing the same thing. Their only concern is how to come to power”, he said.
The NTPP has quite an interesting flag with meaningful symbols on it. Blue color provides the backdrop to grey color map of Telangana region. A Plough, A Shovl, a book and a flaming torch are embossed on the map. “The blue represents the abundance of water and the grey map represents the dry land of Telangana because it neither gets the irrigation water nor drinking water. Other regions are exploiting the rivers which pass through Telangana”, he said. The plough represents the suffering of farmers and the shovel represents the laborers. “Book is the symbol of our determination to make the regional fully literate and enable our boys and girls to meet the challenges of knowledge society and competitive world”, he said.
Even as Goud was announcing the name of the new party, another senior leader of the party, E Peddi Reddy approached the election commission in New Delhi for the registration of the party.
“The agenda and the policies of the party will be announced in a public meeting in Hyderabad on August 27”, Goud said. He made a specific reference to the problems of Muslims in the region. “During the last five-six decades, their condition has only worsened and they have become poorer”, he said speaking in Urdu promising to work to uplift the Muslim community. “We will pay special attention to their problems”, he said appealing to the people to treat the NTPP as their own party.
When asked whether the NTPP will tie up with the other like minded Telangana parties including the TRS, Goud said that top priority for him was to go to the people and agitated on their issues. “We will think of tie ups only at the time of the elections”, he added.
The launching of the NTPP has introduced a new sense of urgencies in all the parties. The popular Telugu film star Chiranjeevi, who is planning to launch his yet to be named party, is coming under pressure form his fans and supporters to do it at the earliest. He is being urged by the advisors to launch the party immediately with out any delay because the new party of Goud can attract the people away from Chiranjeevi.
NTPP is also being seen as a big challenge for the TRS of K Chandrasekhara Rao, which has already weakened considerably. He is trying to remain afloat by urging the Congress and the UPA to make a categorical announcement in favor of Telangana. In exchanged he has promised the support of his two MPs to the beleaguered Manmohan Singh government in Parliament.