Telangana BJP Prez hunger strike over fee dues ends; Ramchander Rao warns of Secretariat siege
Hyderabad, Aug 25 (TNT): The 48-hour hunger strike launched by Telangana BJP President N Ramchander Rao demanding release of ₹15,000 crore in pending fee reimbursement and scholarship dues ended on Tuesday, with the BJP claiming “massive public support” for the protest.
Rao ended his fast by accepting lemon juice from BJP leaders, including Rajya Sabha MP K Laxman, BJP Legislative Party leader Aleti Maheshwar Reddy, Malkajgiri MP Eatala Rajender and Adilabad MLA Payal Shanker.
The protest, organised by the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) under the banner “Fees Bakayi-BJP Ladayi”, began on Monday at the BJP state office after police denied permission for the proposed protest at Dharna Chowk.
BJP leaders said students, unemployed youth, women, intellectuals, artists and representatives of educational institutions extended solidarity with the protest.
The party also claimed that students from various universities and professional colleges participated in the programme.
The BJYM submitted documents containing five lakh student signatures collected as part of its campaign seeking clearance of the pending fee reimbursement and scholarship dues.
Addressing the gathering, BJP leaders alleged that the Congress government had failed to clear the dues, affecting students across the state.
They criticised Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over what they described as the government’s failure to honour its commitments to students and unemployed youth.
BJP leaders also alleged that police restrictions were imposed on the protest and claimed that permission was denied for the proposed venue at Dharna Chowk.
Rao said the BJP’s agitation would continue until the ₹15,000 crore dues were released.
“If justice is not served to the students, we will soon lay siege to the Secretariat and force the Congress government to bend,” he warned.
The BJP leaders alleged that the pending dues had pushed the education and livelihoods of lakhs of students into difficulty and demanded immediate payment by the state government.
The protest was attended by BJP MPs, MLAs, MLCs, former legislators, state office-bearers, district presidents and leaders of affiliated organisations, besides representatives of educational institutions, faculty, advocates, doctors, labour unions and ex-servicemen associations.
Among those present were BJP Parliamentary Board member K Laxman, MPs D K Aruna, R Krishnaiah, Rekha Sharma, Eatala Rajender, Raghunandan Rao, Dharmapuri Arvind and Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, besides several MLAs and senior party leaders.
The BJP state leadership thanked students, youth, representatives of educational institutions and party workers for supporting the agitation.
TNT TS
