Telangana Rashtra Samithi president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao may face a case for ‘contempt of court’ by refusing to hold negotiations with the striking employees of Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC).
The Telangana High Court on Friday asked the Telangan government and RTC management to commence talks with the agitating employees at 10.30 am on Saturday and conclude the talks within three days. It also directed that the government submit its status report by October 8.
But KCR, who called for a meeting of senior officials of the transport department to discuss the high court directions on Friday night, cancelled the same and decided to ignore the court order.
“It was just a suggestion and not an order. So, there is no need to abide by the high court observations,” the chief minister reportedly told the officials and asked them to take all steps to avoid inconvenience to the people.
He reiterated that there was no question of taking back the 48,000 sacked employees and holding talks with the unions.
But the Congress party says KCR’s adamant stand amounted to contempt of court.
Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) Treasurer Gudur Narayana Reddy on Saturday said action could be taken against the Chief Minister for contempt of court.
He said that the ministers in KCR cabinet have no freedom of thought and they are not allowed to take any decisions or action.
The Congress leader said that the situation has turned so worse that the High Court had to play the role of government to ask RTC management to hold talks with agitating employees.
“Instead of resolving the problems of RTC employees to end the strike, KCR has been displaying fake ego and utter arrogance. He said KCR was not even willing to talk to RTC unions despite High Court orders. He said this dictatorial attitude would only harm KCR and the countdown for his downfall has already begun,” he said.
Meanwhile, The high court order to the Telangana government to initiate talks with the striking RTC employee unions is a smack on the knuckles of Telangana Rashtra Samithi president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
This was stated by Bharatiya Janata Party official spokesman K Krishna Sagar Rao. In a statement on Friday, he said the high court order to the government to hold talks with RTC unions immediately vindicates the BJP support to the RTC strike.
“It is an order against the adamance of KCR and a smack on the knuckles for the state government,” he said.
Rao demanded the chief minister to personally hold talks with the RTC employee unions immediately as directed by HC, instead of using state administrative officers, who are completely powerless to make any real decisions to resolve the issue.
“BJP extends support to the State Bandh call given the RTC employee unions JAC tomorrow against the undemocratic functioning of the state government,” he said.
Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC), too, demanded that KCR followed the directives given by High Court to deal with the RTC strike.
TPCC treasurer Gudur Narayana Reddy said the high court had given clear directions to the KCR government to complete negotiation process in the next three days and appraise the court about the outcome by October 28.
He feared that the Chief Minister might not obey the High Court directions as he did in the past. He advised KCR to set aside his personal ego and resolve the issues of RTC employees. #KhabarLive
