People bid tearful adieu to Jayashankar

WARANGAL: The mortal remains of Telangana ideologue K Jayashankar were on Wednesday consigned to flames in presence of thousands of pro-Telangana supporters here.Earlier in the day, the body of Jayashankar was taken out in a massive procession from Ekasila Park to the cremation ground at Padmakshigutta where his adopted son Bhadram lit the funeral pyre.Songs and slogans in praise of Jayashankar rent the air throughout the funeral procession as the people bid a tearful adieu to the Telangana idealogue.TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao and TJAC chairman Prof M Kodandaram laid wreaths on the body before the last journey began.Among those who accompanied the body included Prof Kodandaram, Prof K Haragopal, Varavara Rao, Vimala, Dileep Kumar and Mallepalli Lakshmaiah.People from all the Telangana districts descended on Warangal to have a last glimpse of Jayashankar who fought for 60 years for separate Telangana. They carried placards and flags with his picture of them. All roads in Warangal were full with mourners, who appeared unable to come to terms with the reality. The convoy of vehicles, which was about one km long, took several hours to reach the cremation ground which was just about six km from Ekasila Park.At every intersection of the road, there were groups of students, youth and TJAC volunteers singing songs on Telangana movement.As the procession wound through the city, the mourners’ grief turned into anger.As they neared NTR circle, some of them broke away from the procession and began vandalising the statue believing that NTR represented united Andhra Pradesh. The police had a tough time controlling the mob.Again when the procession reached the district Congress office they threw stones at it breaking the windowpanes.Though the police tried to prevent them, the crowd managed to go past the police cordon and damage the office. Same fate awaited the statue of YS Rajasekhara Reddy too.The mourners did not spare DCC president and MLA Gandra Venkata Ramana Reddy and vandalised his house. Anticipating trouble, the policemen posted a few constables but the protestors managed to attack it.They could not get at Ramana Reddy or his family members as no one was present in the house at that time.