T activists disrupt ministers presser

Telangana agitation on Thursday took an ugly turn when some activists barged into the high-security J-Block of the State Secretariat and disrupted a press conference being addressed by three ministers.

Civil Supplies Minister T Sridhar Babu, Revenue Minister N Raghuveera Reddy and Tourism Minister Vatti Vasanth Kumar were addressing a joint press conference regarding the one rupee kilo rice scheme. However, as soon as the press conference began, employees associated with the Telangana Secretariat JAC barged into the conference hall raising 'Jai Telangana' slogans. They did not allow the ministers to speak on the subject.

Amidst pandemonium, Sridhar Babu tried to pacify the agitating employees. However, the employees argued that when thousands of employees were on the street by abstaining from their duties demanding statehood for Telangana, how he could attend his duties. Demanding his resignation, the T activists raised slogans against the Minister and the State Government.

"I was elected by the people for a period of five years and I'm a minister for the entire state. Therefore, how could I participate in the general strike?" the Minister asked. However, the T activists were not convinced with his reply and did not allow him to speak further. Bowing to their pressure, Sridhar Babu walked out of the press conference claiming that he too was in favour of Telangana State. His announcement was followed by loud applauds from the activists.

Although the altercation between the minister and the Telangana activists went on for over half-an-hour, but the security personnel did not intervene. Further, ministers too did not call the security persons to remove the Telangana activists from conference hall. However, it was only after Sridhar Babu expressed his solidarity with the on-going Sakala Janula Samme or the general strike and walked out of the conference hall, the activists dispersed. Ministers - Raghuveera Reddy and Vasanth Kumar remained silent throughout.

After Sridhar Babu walked out, Raghuveera Reddy and Vasanth Kumar continued with their press conference.