Till the other day, journalists from Telangana region played a major role in the movement for separate Telangana State by dividing Andhra Pradesh. Now, there is going to be division among the Telangana journalists themselves.
The Andhra Pradesh Union of Working Journalists (APUWJ), which has been the apex body of the majority of the journalistic community in the State, has recently announced the formation of Telangana Union of Working Journalists (TUWJ) by splitting itself.
The APUWJ was being led by a section of senior journalists including K Srinivas Reddy and Devulapalli Amar, who have been calling the shots for several decades. Now, they want to retain their hold over the journalists in the Telangana region, too, by forming the TUWJ.
However, another section of Telangana journalists who have been fighting for the cause of Telangana State under the banner of Telangana Journalists Forum (TJF) headed by senior journalist Allam Narayana, has been strongly opposing the domination of Amar and Srinivas Reddy even after the bifurcation. They are alleging that the APUWJ had never sympathised with the Telangana cause and its leaders were acting like stooges of Seemandhra leaders including Chandrababu Naidu, Y S Rajasekhar Reddy and Y S Jaganmohan Reddy.
The TJF leaders have now decided to form their own Telangana Union of Working Journalists. On Sunday, they formally announced the formation of Union and got its logo released by TRS president K Chandrasekhara Rao at Telangana Jatara celebrations in Hyderabad. A large number of Telangana journalists are expected to desert Amar/Srinivas Reddy camp to join Allam Narayana camp.
