Effrots to convince Chandrababu Naidu to end fast

Hyderabad : Efforts are being made from various quarters to persuade Telugu Desam Party president Chandrababu Naidu to break his indefinite hunger strike even as the medics sounded alarms on his deteriorating health.

Naidu was forcibly moved into an intensive care unit of a Hyderabad hospital after doctors said his condition had worsened on Thursday.

Naidu has been on fast at the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences since Monday. Even the Opposition leader of Andhra Pradesh did not heed to the requests of his wife and son, who have been at hospital, to end the fasting.

Naidu resorted to the indefinite hunger strike to protest the government’s alleged indifference to the farmers in the state.

His demands are that farmers be given greater compensation than what the government has sanctioned after rains destroyed 50 lakh acres of crops.

Some 30 farmers have allegedly committed suicide this year, but independent sources claimed the toll was much higher that the official’s account.

Even requests were made by a minister to end the fast after all the Opposition parties’ appeal to Naidu failed.

At an all party meeting on Thursday the participants were Praja Rajyam, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India- Marxist, Bharaiya Janata Party, Lok Satta, Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen and others.

Their leaders tried to prevail over Chief Minster Kiran Kumar Reddy to consider the demand raised by Naidu.

The CM said the government had no fund to concede all these.