The Telangana assembly Saturday paid rich tributes to those who laid down their lives for the formation of the separate state.
On the last day of the assembly's first session, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao moved a resolution to pay tributes to the martyrs.
He said 369 students died in police firing during the movement in 1969, while about 1,200 people laid down their lives in the second phase of the agitation.
KCR, as Rao is popularly known, said he was moved by the suicide of K. Srikant Chary, who was the first to end his life for Telangana during the second phase of agitation in 2009.
He also paid tributes to Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) ideologue Jayashankar and said it was sad that he is not around when the goal is reached. The chief minister recalled that Jayashankar had participated in the movement as a student and he was concerned over the youth laying down their lives.
The opposition Congress and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supported the resolution. Congress member G. Chinna Reddy said the role played by students in the movement would always be remembered.
TDP's Revanth Reddy demanded the government build a memorial for Srikant Chary.
