HYDERABAD: Speaker N Manohar’s alleged conversation with the then US consul general Cornelis M Keur on Telangana agitation is kicking up a political storm.Various political parties have stepped up heat on the Speaker who made the statement during his tenure as deputy speaker of the Assembly and wanted an explanation from him.Students organisations in Telangana have demanded his removal from the Speaker’s post and called for burning the effigies of the Speaker in Telangana region on Friday.The Telangana protagonists reacted sharply to the cable which was released by whistleblower website Wikileaks on August 26 following its publication in these columns.The cable sent by Cornelis Keur quoted that the then deputy speaker of the AP Legislative Assembly N Manohar telling CongenOff (consul general officials) that the police were convinced that, like in 1969, the current unrest over Telangana statehood will result in a recruitment campaign by Naxalite forces in the region.Reacting sharply, TJAC chairman M Kodandaram said people from coastal Andhra who were in responsible Constitutional positions were not being impartial to Telangana people.“They are trying to project Telangana movement in a bad light and suppress it.This has become evident following the cables released by Wikileaks.The Speaker should not continue in the post,” he said.Telangana Students JAC convener Pidamarthi Ravi demanded the removal of Manohar from the post for making derogatory remarks against students and gave a call for burning the effigies of the Speaker on Friday.Suspended TDP MLA Nagam Janardhan Reddy demanded that Manohar should give an explanation to Telangana people and termed the statements as unfortunate.“The statement of the Speaker has hurt the sentiments of students and he should give an explanation immediately, else he has no right to continue in the post,” he said.CPM leader Veeraiah said that the US watch on internal issues of the state is a threat to our nation and it is unfortunate that our leaders have discussed internal issues with outsiders.However, the Telangana Congress leaders tried to downplay the incident saying that any person who is in a responsible post would not make such comments, particularly a soft spoken person like Manohar.Congress MLA Gandra Venkataramana Reddy stated that there is no way that the Speaker could have made the statement as it would send wrong signals among foreigners.“However, the Speaker should come out clean and give an explanation,” he said.Another Congress MLC Yadava Reddy reflected similar views, while PCC president Botcha Satyanarayana refused to comment saying that he had not seen the news report.Wikileaks News Not True: SpeakerHYDERABAD: Speaker N Manohar has denied speaking to anyone on the Telangana agitation following the publication of the cables released by whistleblower website Wikileaks in these columns.In a clarification issued by the Speaker’s office on Thursday, Manohar said that his remarks mentioned in the Wikileaks cable are ‘far from truth and absolutely false’.According to the US cable sent by the then US consul general Cornelis M Keur in January 5, 2009, the speaker was quoted saying that the police were convinced that, like in 1969, the current unrest over Telangana statehood will result in a successful recruiting campaign by Naxalite forces in the region.The cable also attributes to the then deputy speaker a view that, “many former Naxalite leaders emerged from the earlier agitations and they garnered significant sympathy throughout Telangana due to their support for the statehood.”
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