Prof Jayashankar pioneer of Telangana: Errabelli

Warangal: The services rendered by the Telangana ideologue Prof Jayashankar would always remain in the history of the State, Minister for Panchayat Raj Errabelli Dayakar Rao said. The minister who garlanded the statue of Prof Jayashankar at Ekasila Park in Hanumakonda on Tuesday on the occasion of his death anniversary said that people in Telangana will always remember Prof Jayashankar who toiled throughout his life to spread the ideology of self-governance.

"Beginning with the non-Mulki movement, the economics professor spearheaded the campaign for separate Telangana. Even in his student days, Jayashankar had come out in the open, raising the injustice done to Telangana people. He opposed Visalandhra proposal in 1954 when no one dared to talk about it. He also submitted a report to the Fazal Ali Commission and emphasised the need for separate Telangana before the First State Reorganisation Commission (SRC), Errabelli said.

Professor Jayashankar not only sensitized people for the separate Telangana but also voiced the demand at the national and international forums, Panchayat Raj minister said.

Prof Jayashankar was instrumental in intensifying the Telangana Movement besides guiding the TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao. "Prof Jayashankar is the pioneer of separate Telangana," Errabelli said.

"Unfortunately, Prof Jayashankar could not see the dream of his life – separate Telangana, but the TRS Government is following his ideals of social justice and equitable distribution of separate State fruits," Errabelli said. Prof Jayashankar who was born to Lakshmikantha Rao and Mahalakshmi couple of Akkampet village on August 6, 1934, died of cancer on June 21, 2011. Professor Jayashankar worked as Registrar of the then Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages (CIEFL) before he was appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of Kakatiya University in 1991.