Chandigarh: Three day Conference of Maha Telgu Desam ended at Hyderabad on January 4th. Ata Marnoth rally at which leaders of 13 other no Congress (I) Parties joined the T.D.P. in calling for true federalism in the country and described the trend toward the strong center as dangerous. All of them who earlier decided to; form a ‘common forum took serious exception to the regional. parties being dubbed as antinational by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, They hailed the Telgu Desam Party President and Chief Minister, Mr.N.T. Rama Rao, for his initiative in leading the No Congress parties: fight for greater autonomy and self-respect for the states. Rama Rao, who said only voluntary Federalism could lead to the all-around development of the country, was described by his Karnaka counterpart, Mr. Rama Krishan hedge, as the new leader of India who was accepted by all lashing out at the central leadership, Mr. Rama Rao warned that if they did not prospect the verdict of the people who voted regional parties to power, the people will give them a roaring reply. He rededicated his life to protect and preserve the self-respect of the Telugu people and reiterated his commitment to provide the clean administration and to uplift the weak and the downtrodden. Mr. Hegde said that the regional parties, area of influence may be limited but their outlook was national. On the other band how could the Congress (I) which has been almost wiped out in the non-Hindi speaking states, call itself a national party. He said that the meeting of the opposition leaders discussed issues thread bare ‘antifelt the necessity the role of money, corruption and bogus vote, The Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Sujit Singh Barnala who participated in the meeting said that people of Punjab would be first to sacrifice their lives to protect the integrity of the country. Yet the monopoly of the center over Radio and Televsion had contributed in projecting the Sikhs as separatists, All that they wanted was equal treatment as Brothers The Assam Gana Parishad leader in Parliament Mr. Dinesh Goswami pointed out that in Tripura, Tamil Nadu and other states the Congress (I) even took the support of Regional parties, How did they suddenly become anti National now.
K.P. Unnikrishnan Congress (S) M.P. urged Mr. Rama Rao to free the people of India from the rule of Dynasty just as he had freed the people of state from the bondage of the village ‘Karnaun.’ Mr. C.G. Dandkarni of the D.M.K. said the Ramnujam Committee report on greater state autonomy submitted by the D.M.K. government in 1969 was with the central and no action was taken on it so far.
‘The former Meghalaya Chief Minister, the former Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Ram Naresh Yadav and Dr. Mahapatra of Gujarat addressed the meeting. Over 3 lakh people had ‘gathered in and around Gym Khanna Secundrabad to witness Cultural Programme and listen to the leaders,
Article extracted from this publication >> January 10, 1986
