HYDERABAD: With the Singareni miners returning to work on Tuesday, Telangana government staff seemed poised to throw in the towel in one or two days.Sources said strike leaders were holding out for a face-saver announcement by the Centre on the broader Telangana issue and then announce a ‘postponement’ of their strike as part of the Sakala Janula Samme, 36 days old on Tuesday.For the record, the Telangana Employees Joint Action Committee (TEJAC) said it is resolved to continue the strike till political leaders of Telangana movement make a decision either way.In all, 65 per cent members of TEJAC are said to want continuance of strike and 35 per cent inclined to call it a day.It is learnt that the cabinet sub-committee on employees’ issues headed by deputy chief minister C Damodar Rajanarsimha will shortly have another round of talks with TEJAC leaders and offer a sweetener deal to enable the union to make an honourable retreat.In two rounds of talks held between TEJAC and the government so far, the union pegged its demand to the a ‘favourable’ announcement by the Centre on Telangana.While there is little the state government can do on that score, sources said the Kiran Kumar Reddy regime is waiting for a green signal from the Centre before it invites TEJAC leaders to the conclusive talks.“The state government too wants to offer a respectful retreat for the Telangana employees. It feels that the employees have not fought for their own benefit but for a cause. The issue has come to a final stage,” said a senior official.Telangana minister K Jana Reddy said discussions are going on at the national level to resolve the Telangana issue. Faced with troubling questions from government staff who lost more than a month’s pay to prove a point, the TRS sought to blame the Congress for the fold-up. Its chief K Chandrasekhar Rao has reportedly directed his party leaders to engineer defections in the Congress as he has done with TDP earlier.
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