Senior Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leader Vinod Kumar faced a protest from Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) at an event in Washington, over the Telangana government's response to the ongoing strike by employees of the Road Transport Corporation (RTC).
The former Karimnagar MP was addressing an event hosted by the Telangana Development Forum (TDF) earlier this week. A video from the incident has also been widely shared on social media.
The video showed protesters in the crowd, standing up with placards of 'NRIs for RTC' and 'Save RTC', even as Vinod Kumar appealed to them, to sit down.
Slogans were also raised as Vinod was heard saying, "We will save RTC...okay...please sit down."
Congress MP from Malkajgiri, Revanth Reddy, who has been protesting against the state government over their response to the RTC strike, was also sharing the stage with Vinod.
Watch the video below.
#TDF #telanganadevelopmentforum in Washington DC USA protested in favor of #TSRTCStrike during anniversary ceremony of TDF while #TRS MP Vinod Kumar was speaking. @revanth_anumula was also in the function. @TJSPartyOnline. Many leaders of other political parties were present. pic.twitter.com/wLfJCgHWR7
— SyedMujahid (@sayedAliMujahid) November 11, 2019
The strike by over 48,000 TSRTC employees entered the 38th day on Monday. Their demands include merger of TSRTC with the government, so that they are treated at par with other state government employees. However, taking a tough stand, the TRS government has rejected the demand for merger and even announced privatisation of half of the TSRTC routes.
The state Cabinet had on November 2 decided to privatise 5,100 bus routes, further angering the employees, who are on strike since October 5.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has rejected the demand for merger saying it will open the floodgates for similar demands by employees of other corporations.
Though the Telangana High Court has directed the state government to take the initiative to resolve the employees' demands, no end to the stalemate appears in sight as both sides are sticking to their stand.
IANS inputs