Employees offer to work

While talks between Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and the striking Seemandhra employees remained inconclusive on Wednesday, the meeting was not a total loss.

With north coastal Andhra facing a cyclone threat, the employees assured the Chief Minister that they would attend to all emergency services in the affected districts though they were on strike.

Representatives from 29 employees’ organisations took part in a four-hour-long marathon meeting and informed the Chief Minister at the end that they would convene a general body meeting of respective organisations and discuss the outcome of the talks before taking a final decision on continuing the strike.

The employees’ organisations accordingly scheduled their meetings for October 11 and 12. Sources told this newspaper that the government had assured to arrange for two months’ salary if the strike was called off before Dasara.

Sources said Kiran Kumar Reddy initially explained the efforts that he and other ministers and MLAs from the two regions had made to stall the state’s division. “Even at the cost of my post I have been making all efforts and it is ridiculous that a section of the media and political parties are trying to accuse me of helping the Centre in this regard,” he said.

Kiran Kumar Reddy also assured them that the state Assembly would get two chances to debate and convey its recommendation for or against the state’s division.

The Chief Minister added that the Centre and national media had ignored the two-month long strike and his latest interviews to the national media was a strategy to get their attention.

Revenue minister N. Raghuveera Reddy, meanwhile, said people had decided to punish the leaders and time would only tell whether the punishment would be for five years or for a lifetime. “They may even hang us,” he added.

Speaking to media persons after the talks, APNGOs Association president P. Ashok Babu said that the Chief Minister had given a firm assurance to continue to oppose the state’s division at the political level. He was appreciative of the employees’ sacrificing their salaries and fighting for a cause in a peaceful manner.

Secretariat Seemandhra Employees Forum chairman U. Muralikrishna and RTC employees’ JAC convener P. Damodar Rao also took part in the meeting.

Source:DC