HYDERABAD: Finally, Delhi got down to serious business on the Telangana issue as it summoned chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, Pradesh Congress Committee president Botcha Satyanarayana and former PCC chief D Srinivas in a bid to find a way out of the three-week-long Sakala Janula Samme.The Centre’s initiative came within hours of AP governor ESL Narasimhan landing in Delhi. Even as the TJAC announced deferment of the rail roko to October 12, 13 and 14 from October 9-11, with the general strike virtually paralysing administration in the state apart from badly affecting essential services, Delhi is keen to find an end to the impasse.Narasimhan, who landed in Delhi late on Friday evening, is expected to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other top leaders on Saturday and submit a report on the state of affairs in AP now.The summons to Kiran Kumar Reddy, Botcha Satyanarayana and D Srinivas came in the wake of Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee holding separate meetings with the Prime Minister and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and later in the night with AICC general secretary incharge of AP affairs Ghulam Nabi Azad and Defence minister AK Antony.On another front, Chiranjeevi, who merged with the Congress, met up with Rahul Gandhi and some other leaders in Delhi. Earlier, TJAC chairman Prof Kodandaram announced postponement of the rail stir in the face of the toughening Centre’s stand on the strike.Though avoiding serious inconvenience to those returning from coastal region after Dasara holidays was cited as the official reason, the announcement came hours after representatives of the Central and State governments made it clear that unlike last month when trains were halted during the rail roko, they would be run this time round with police security.The TJAC, however, announced a new programme, maha dharna in Hyderabad and a tour of the areas where the Singareni Collieries had its coal mines, during these three days.It aims to further intensify the the strike by miners and bring power production to a complete halt. DGP V Dinesh Reddy has revealed that police would not tolerate any disruption in movement of essential services.The government, on the other hand, continued to send out feelers to T strikers.APSRTC managing director B Prasada Rao ruled out payment of festival advance to striking employees while remarking that privatisation of the corporation was one of the options being considered if the strike continued for too long.Overall, it appears to be a battle of nerves and the question is who will blink first?TJAC’s new planT-leaders have not only changed the dates of the proposed rail roko to October 12-14 from October 9-11, but have also announced a new programme for 9-11: Maha Dharna in Hyderabad and a tour of Singareni areas to rope in the entire SCCL workforce into the stir with the aim of bringing power production to a complete halt.Rail stir shift is also said to be to avoid inconvenience to a large number of people returning to Hyderabad from various parts of the state after Dasara vacation.
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