Hyderabad:
Seven students of Osmania University on an indefinite hunger strike in support of statehood for Telangana, were forcibly shifted to hospital by the police on Monday, as their condition had become a matter of concern.
A large number of slogan-shouting students put up stiff resistance as the police shifted the students to the Gandhi government hospital. The students have been fasting at the University's Arts College. Another group of fasting students had been shifted to hospital late on Sunday night.
At Osmania, students want to hold a huge public meeting with an estimated five lakh attendees on January 3. The police say they have not sanctioned this meeting. That's becoming a new point of conflict on campus.
The campus has been the epicentre of pro-Telangana protests for the last four weeks.
Last week, students attacked visiting politicians with chappals. The men targeted from Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party (TDP) are among 60 MLAs who've resigned from the Andhra Assembly to protest against the Centre's new go-slow policy on the formation of a new Telangana state.
However, students were upset with the TDP because Naidu had not expressed his support for a Telangana state. Students later apologised for the attack on the TDP leaders, claiming that anti-social elements had infiltrated the campus and had in fact, led the attack on the politicians.
K Chandrasekhar Rao, or KCR, along with pro-Telangana politicians and student groups, has formed the Telangana Joint Action Committee. KCR has warned that he will start an indefinite bandh in Telangana on Tuesday if the Centre does not commit to a schedule for the formation of the new state it sanctioned earlier this month.
The gigantic whiplash from MLAs from the non-Telangana regions of Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema forced the Centre to share last week that it will move very slowly and cautiously on the issue. KCR and others have warned the Centre not to reverse its decision to allow a new state.