APNGOs gives strike notice to protest against bifurcation

Hyderabad, Employees supporting a "united" Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday threatened to go on strike from February 5 and served a notice to the AP government in protest against the division of the state.

"We had said that we would agitate if the Centre tabled the bill (for the formation of a separate Telangana) even after its rejection by the AP Assembly. We are ready to agitate from February 5 midnight. Accordingly, we gave a strike notice to the government," Andhra Pradesh Non-Gazetted Officers' Association (APNGOA) president P Ashok Babu told reporters here.

 Led by the APNGOA, pro-"united" AP government employees had struck work for over two months last year, which had paralysed normal life in Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra (together known as "Seemandhra") regions.

 The APNGOA also urged union ministers, MPs and other leaders from Seemandhra to step up efforts to keep AP united.

The strike notice came even as the Centre is gearing up to table the Andhra Pradesh Re-organisation Bill during the parliament session which begins on February 5.

Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Chief N Chandrababu Naidu, Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) president K Chandrasekhar Rao and leaders of Seemandhra as well as Telangana regions are presently camping in Delhi to pursue their respective agendas.

Naidu met President Pranab Mukherjee, BJP President Rajnath Singh and several other top leaders in Delhi during the last couple of days, while the TRS president met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday, as well as leaders of other leaders in the national capital, to drum up support for a separate Telangana state.