Vijayamma designs T-storm

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The small town of Sircilla, 30 km from Karimnagar, resembles a fortress ahead of YSR Congress leader Vijayalakshmi’s one-day ‘Cheneta Deeksha’, in support of weavers.

The TRS and TJAC have opposed the event and threatened to stage a repeat of Mahbubabad, a reference to the violence at the railway station in Warangal district on May 28, 2010, where police had to open fire to quell crowds who were opposing Kadapa MP Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s entry into Telangana in the course of his Odarpu yatra.

The TRS, TJAC, BJP and pro-Telangana protagonists of the Congress and TD are all opposed to Ms Vijayalakshmi’s tour, her first foray into Telangana barring poll meetings for a day in Parkal in June. Though the police has permitted the one-day deeksha at Ambedkar Chowrasta in the weaver-dominated Sircilla, around 1,000 security personnel will be deployed in view of the bandh call given by the TRS for the day, and also to ensure her security given that T-activists have been burning her effigies and YSRC flexboards over the last few days. The YSRC leader has said she only wants to bring to the government’s notice the injustice being meted out to the weavers.

TRS to go all out to stop Vijayalakshmi’s deeksha
There have been widespread protests against YSR Congress honorary president Y.S. Vijayala-kshmi’s visit because Telangana activists have been asking her to spell out her party’s stand on Telangana statehood before taking up any tour or deeksha in the region.

The other reason for the protests, according to TRS leaders and activists, is that Ms Vijayalakshmi’s late husband and the then chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy was responsible for the plight of the weavers of Sircilla as he had promised a lot but had not been able to deliver. This had resulted in 160 weavers committing suicide from Sircilla alone, they point out.

Sources say that the real reason to oppose the tour is to prevent the YSR Congress' entry and possible political gains in the region. After losing the Mahbubnagar seat and winning Parkal by a narrow margin in byelections, the TRS is now worried, said sources.

K.K. Mahender Reddy, the losing Congress candidate who is now in YSR Congress, has scripted the one-day programme. “Unless we take up public causes how can we establish our hold in the region? We have clarified umpteen number of times that the Telangana issue should be settled by the Centre; our party has no role in decision making," Mr Mahender Reddy told the media.

Sircilla is surrounded by Vemulavada, Siddipet, Kamareddy and Korutla Assembly segments which are all held by the TRS. Party MLAs have been instructed to obstruct Ms Vijayalakshmi's entourage and the subsequent deeksha programme.