OUJAC calls off Telangana fast

HYDERABAD: Osmania University student JAC leaders, who had been on a hunger strike for the cause of Telangana for the last four days, withdrew their fast on Thursday after being persuaded by leaders of various political parties.The OUJAC leaders called off their ‘Chalo Assembly’ scheduled for Friday.For the second consecutive day, elected representatives including Congress MPs had to take alternative routes to enter the campus with police fortifying the premises and preventing them from reaching the Arts College where the students were fasting.Congress MPs, G Vivek and Madhu Yaskhi Goud, reportedly scaled the compound wall of the varsity with a ladder and entered the premises in the morning to express solidarity with the fasting students. In the evening, a host of politicians had to make their way through a narrow opening from the Tarnaka side to offer lemon juice to the students.In the morning, the two Congress MPs reached the compound wall of the campus opposite the Hyderabad Public School and scaled it with the help of a ladder.The ladder reportedly broke when Vivek was scaling the wall but the students pulled up the MP on time preventing him from falling.The duo left the campus in the same manner and hired an auto to reach their vehicles which were parked at some distance.In the evening, TDP rebel MLAs Nagam Janardhan Reddy, K Hareeshwar Reddy and J Ramanna, BJP leader Bandaru Dattatreya and Congress MPs Vivek and Madhu forced their way into the campus from the Tarnaka side pushing aside policemen deployed there.They met the fasting students and persuaded them to call off their fast. Some of the students, whose health condition deteriorated, were later shifted to hospital.Soon after the students called off their fast, police removed the barricades at the entrances of the campus and allowed politicians to leave the place without any problem.OUJAC spokesperson P Kailash said they called off their ‘Chalo Assembly’ rally demanding acceptance of resignations by elected representatives from Telangana.This, he said, was done in view of the high alert sounded in the city following serial blasts in Mumbai on Wednesday.Sources, however, said students were forced to cancel the rally in view of the poor response to the OUJAC fast launched four days back.OUJAC leaders said they would chalk out their future agitation programmes in the next couple of days.