They stabbed us in the back: TSEJAC

HYDERABAD: The Telangana Secretariat Employees Joint Action Committee (TSEJAC) has accused political parties, including ruling party ministers and MLAs from the region, of weakening the movement when it was at the peak. "These leaders went back on their promise that they would lead us from the front but stabbed us in the back. Nowhere in the movement were they seen for they were attending to official work secretly, leaving the agitation to the employees," it said.Speaking to reporters here on Tuesday, TSEJAC chairman Narender Rao and president Suresh Kumar said that they had been deceived by  Congress ministers, MLAs and a few MPs once again on the issue of achieving separate Telangana. "They should learn a lesson at least from Rayalaseema leaders who got united under one umbrella and made  their stand known successfully."They said Telangana Congress leaders should make amends at least now and raise the issue at Cabinet meetings or other fora.The TSEJAC leaders claimed that their 42-day agitation, the longest, opened the eyes and mind of the central government. In one day the  Core Committee met thrice and discussed Telangana, they recalled.Besides, they created such a situation that the Centre, at one stage,  thought of imposing a financial emergency under Article 352 of the Constitution. The Congress, which had promised separate Telangana in its 2004 and 2009 election manifestos, back-stabbed the people of Telangana, they said.The TSEJAC leaders explained that they resumed duties following an agreement reached with the government and keeping in view the interests of students and farmers. However, they claimed, the agitation only stood postponed and would be revived whenever the need arose.