OPPOSITION parties in Telangana including the Left parties, TDP, TJS, Telangana Inti party, along with mass organisations gave a joint call to protest the government’s failure to contain the spread of Covid-19 in the state. 

A forum ‘Rachabanda’, formed by the members of the opposition parties, met on August 3,  through online platforms to come up with a joint action plan  and has decided to hold state wide demonstrations and protests by flying black balloons and black flags on the protest day. The forum is headed TJS state president Prof. Kodandaram  who also demanded white paper on the donations to CM relief fund.

CPI(M) state secretary, Tammineni Veerabhadram, addressing the forum, said that the coronavirus pandemic cannot be eradicated  by following wrong policies and it can be mitigated only by following scientific methods. He said that it is surprising that methods like reciting Hanumanchalisa, drinking cow urine, or sprinkling cow dung with water before the houses, are being suggested by BJP leaders. He recalled that Socialist countries of the world have become role models in containing the virus. Urging the state government to take over private hospitals to fight the pandemic, he cited the examples of countries like Singapore, New Zealand, Taiwan, and South Korea which did the same and succeeded in combating the virus.

Veerabhadram also gave example of USA which is utterly failing at stopping its people from falling prey to the deadly infection because of the unscientific thinking of its president, Donald Trump and as a result, thousands are dying.  He slammed the leaders at the state and central level and said that at a time when authorities all over the world are doing their best in containing the pandemic, our leaders have given up. He called on the people to campaign through social media and urge the leaders to take effective and immediate action to stop Covid-19 spread in the state. He also urged volunteers from all political parties to come forward and extend their service to the needy during these trying times.

Chada Venkatareddy, CPI state secretary, criticised the government for failing to establish a tracing, testing and treatment (3T) system in our country even after months since the pandemic hit our country. He also urged the government to take over the private hospitals to meet the needs of the coronavirus patients. He took a dig at prime minister Modi for making efforts to hand over public sector units to corporates during the crisis period.

L Ramana, president of state TTDP demanded that Pragathi Bhavan be declared as public hospital, as it is not required for KCR, as he is living in his farm house. Dr Cheruku Sudhakar, chairman of Inti party, CPI(ML) state secretary S Venkateswar Rao, Potu Ranga Rao, CPI(ML), and other Left leaders also spoke.

STATEWIDE PROTEST
The Telangana Left Parties Mass Forum organised statewide protests in front of all district collectorates, over the last week, demanding increased tests and better medical facilities for corona positive patients. They criticised the state and central governments for its total failure in stopping the spread despite the imposition of lockdown. CPI, CPI(M), TJS, TTDP and other Left party leaders protested with black flags before collectorates.