KK may talk to RTC staff

State wants union leaders to call off stir to begin discussions

With the state government worried after the suicides of two Road Transport Corporation (RTC) staffers and its adverse fallout on the Huzurnagar by-election, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) general secretary and MP K. Keshava Rao will likely mediate between the government and RTC union leaders to resolve the ongoing strike.

Mr Keshava Rao is close to both Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and the RTC joint action committee leaders. He had gone to Delhi on Monday but rushed back to Hyderabad in the evening; he will likely initiate a dialogue with the JAC.

The only sticking point is that he wants union leaders to call off the strike and start talks with the

government; the union leaders want discussions to begin before they call off the strike.

In a statement on Monday, Mr Keshava Rao said there was no proposal in the manifesto to merge RTC into the government. He added that no public sector unit was proposed to be merged with the government; it was a policy matter in which the unions had no say.

Keshava Rao asked the government to consider all the RTC union demands except merging the corporation into the government. He also stated that that the CM categorically ruled out any privatisation of RTC. JAC convenor Aswatthama Reddy said it was ready to talk if Keshava Rao calls for talks, and welcomed his involvement. Though the CM has repeatedly ruled out talks with the unions, the party leadership has asked Keshava Rao to prepare the ground for direct talks between the unions and the government.