Hyderabad: Is an act of desperation seeping into the TRS leadership, compelling it to lure JAC leaders away from the ongoing strike that is spearheaded by the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation Workers and Employees Joint Action Committee and help call it off, pronto?
Well that precisely is what is claimed by JAC convenor Ashvatthama Reddy, who, on Monday, alleged that two ruling party MLAs (he did not name them) were making telephonic calls to JAC leaders and offering money to ensure that the strike (which is into its 23rd day) is called off.
He made these allegations while addressing the media soon after meeting Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan at Raj Bhavan urging her to impress upon the government the need to come forward for talks with RTC unions in order to resolve the issue amicably.
Stating that they were opposed to the government’s move to call for tenders to hire more private buses for the Corporation, he said that the delegation had brought all the issues to the notice of the Governor, including the efforts of ruling party Legislators to lure Union leaders with money power to ostensibly sabotage their movement.
Mr Reddy said that they had also pointed out to the governor on how the state government was hoodwinking the High Court with regard to payment of salaries. He said that although only Rs 20 crore was required to clear September salaries to workers, the government had lied to the court about the need for Rs 239 crore to pay salaries. He pointed out that the RTC management is not empowered to call for tenders or hire buses without the approval of the Board. He charged that tenders were issued only under pressure from the Chief Minister.
