Ghulam Nabi Azad urges Telangana agitators to end strike

 Ghulam Nabi Azad urges Telangana agitators to end strike Hyderabad, Oct 3 : Union Health Minister and Congress in-charge for Andhra Pradesh Ghulam Nabi Azad has appealed to demonstrators agitating for the creation of a separate Telangana state, to end their strike as it is causing massive inconvenience to the common people.

"The strike should be called off immediately as it would provide the common people of the state some much needed respite," Azad told the media here.

"If they call of their strike, the people of Telangana will be greatly relieved," he added.

He also said that while detailed discussions had been done at the state level on the issue, that alone was not enough to break the deadlock.

"State level consultation with elected representatives is already done, but we need more consultation at the national level," he added.

Reiterating the central government''s intention of resolving the matter as soon as possible, Azad said:" People are facing lot of problems, in so far as going from one place to another place; particularly the labour class is in great trouble because there is no developmental work going on. There is no electricity."

For the last 18 days, pro-Telangana activists have stepped up their efforts for the four-decade-old demand of a separate state, which is sought to be carved out of the economically less developed parts of Andhra Pradesh.

The struggle gathered momentum last year after the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government had accepted their demand in principle.

Several protests and shutdowns had brought Andhra Pradesh to a near halt in 2009 and 2010, as pro-Telangana activists persisted with their demand. (ANI)