Hyderabad:
The CPIin Telangana on Monday withdrew support to the ruling TRS for the October 21 bypoll to Huzurnagar assembly constituency for ‘failing’ to address the issues of agitating state government transport employees.
CPI state secretary Chada Venkat Reddy, while announcing this as the reason for withdrawal of support, said it would decide in a day or two on which party it would support in the bypolls.
Nearly 48,000 employees of different unions of TSRTC, are on a state wide indefinite strike since October 5 on a call given by the Joint Action Committee employees’ unions to accede to their demands.
These include merger of the RTC with the government, pay revision, recruitment to various posts, among others.
On October 9, the CPI’s state unit had said it would rethink its support to TRS for the October 21 bypoll if Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao continued with his “oppressive” stand against the striking transport corporation employees.
The term “self-dismissal” of employees used by Rao will boomerang on him and he will be self-dismissed, Venkat Reddy had said, adding he should immediately withdraw such remarks.
On October 1, Venkat Reddy had announced CPIs support to TRS.
He had stated that the party discussed the issue at its state executive meeting and decided to support the TRS candidate “in the prevailing political situation.”
Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee President N Uttam Kumar Reddy had earlier said the CPI should reconsider their support to TRS for the bypoll “in view of TRS government’s attempts to crush RTC employees”.
The bypoll has been necessitated due to the resignation of state Congress president N Uttam Kumar Reddy following his election to the Lok Sabha.
Congress has fielded his wife N Padmavati Reddy, a former MLA, while TRS has re-nominated S Saidi Reddy, who lost to Uttam Kumar Reddy in the 2018 Assembly polls.
