Intermediate Fiasco: Opposition Parties Intensify Stir

Hyderabad: The storm stirred up by the Intermediate results doesn’t seem to die anytime soon in Telangana. Opposition parties, Congress and BJP, are vying with each other with surprisingly alacrity to expose the failings of ruling TRS for mishandling the issue. It is surprising because the opposition parties which appeared to be in moribund state even during elections and hardly gave any competition to TRS are making all out efforts to draw people’s attention in the State.

The BJP, which sees a potential political space in Telangana as the principal opposition Congress is losing its significance by the day, lapped up the issue with a great enthusiasm. BJP’s Telangana State President Dr K Lakshman on Monday as announced sat on indefinite fast at BJP Office in Hyderabad. Although police had gathered outside his house to prevent him from coming out to foil his attempts at indefinite fast, Lakshman cleverly sneaked out his way and boarded a cab to reach the party office. With the large numbers of party workers present at the BJP Office, the police stationed there couldn’t stop him from sitting on indefinite hunger strike.

Lakshman came down heavily on the ruling TRS for bungling the Intermediate evaluation and declaration of results. He asked the Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao to personally intervene in the issue and do justice to students and families. Within few hours after beginning his fast, a posse of policemen swooped down on the venue and whisked away Lakshman amidst the resistance from the BJP workers. Lakshman has been shifted to Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS).

The Congress is not far behind. Senior leaders Geeta Reddy, Hanumanth Rao and others staged a protest outside the Board of Intermediate in Nampally. They squarely blamed the incompetence of the State government in diffusing the crisis days after the issue cropped up. The police whisked them away.

Meanwhile, the re-verification and recounting of answer scripts of 3.20 lakh students who have been declared as ‘failed’ will be completed by May 8, the State government told the High Court in a counter petition filed on Monday.

When petitioners requested the Court to direct the Intermediate Board to conduct the re-evaluation instead of recounting and re-verification, the Court said decision the need for re-evaluation would be taken on May 8 depending upon the pass percentage. The next hearing into the issue has been postponed to May 8. Education Secretary B Janardhan Reddy and Intermediate Board Secretary Ashok appeared for the hearing.

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