HYDERABAD: In what appears to be the beginning of a slugfest, TSRTC’s Telangana Mazdoor Union (TMU) and Telangana Jatiya Mazdoor Union (TJMU) crossed swords over former health minister Eatala Rajender’s statements against Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and MLC K Kavitha.
While the TMU condemned the former minister’s remarks, the TJMU has come forward backing Rajender’s statements claiming that the government has been ignoring employees’ rights.
Speaking to the media, M Thomas Reddy, general secretary of TMU, questioned Rajender as to how he would protect the RTC while he is about to join the BJP, which is privatising all sectors. He said that it was because of KCR’s decisions the RTC was keeping itself afloat.
“The State government bailed out the Corporation by pumping money to tune of Rs 3,000 crore and by spending about Rs 125 crore per month for paying salaries of employees. Rajender should stop referring to RTC for his gains,” Thomas Reddy added.Later in the evening, K Hanumanth, general secretary of TJMU, responded to the recent developments, via a media statement, and challenged TMU’s claim.
He held that Kavitha failed to utter even a single word when the RTC staffers went on strike.
“The strike was to pressurise the government on pay scales pending from 2017. All the efforts have gone futile and revised pay scales have not been implemented yet,” he added.
‘KAVITHA IS OUR LEADER’
Reacting to Eatala’s comments about Kavitha, Thomas Reddy said: “Kavitha understands the issues of employees, hence she was made our representative.”