JAC calls for Telangana shutdown Friday

HYDERABAD: The Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC), which is spearheading the movement for separate Telangana state, has called for a shutdown in the region Friday.JAC convenor M. Kodandaram said the shutdown has been called to protest the insult shown to a Telangana martyr in Delhi and the government's attempt to suppress the right of employees to go on strike.The day-long shutdown is likely to affect normal life in Hyderabad and nine other districts of the region.The two-day shutdown July 5-6 in support of the demand for a separate state had crippled normal life.The JAC called the shutdown after state authorities in Delhi did not allow the body of a youth, who committed suicide near India Gate Wednesday, to be kept at Andhra Bhavan, the state-run guest house.Frustrated over the delay in formation of a separate state, M. Yadi Reddy, 28, was found hanging from a tree in India Gate area.The JAC, which comprises the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other pro-Telangana groups, has also called the shutdown to protest the government's threat to invoke the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) and to implement the 'no work no pay' rule against employees planning to go on indefinite trike next month.Kodandaram has urged the Congress, the Telugu Desam Party and others to support the shutdown.