Hyderabad, Jun 17: As many as 39 workers from Telangana,who had been stranded for around a year in Saudi Arabia, have returned here Monday, thanks to the efforts of the Centre and the Telangana government.

According to an official release, these daily wage labourers went to the Gulf nation last year to work in a construction company.

Most of them belonged to Karimnagar, Nirmal, Nizamabad and Adilabad districts.

The company, which hired these labourers, had allegedly not been paying salaries to them for the past six months and they were made to live in "terrible" condition, without proper food.

The labourers wrote to Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) working president K T Rama Rao, over Twitter, seeking his intervention in helping them return to India, it said.

Rama Rao requested the Indian Embassy at Riyadh to help them, the release said.

He had also requested Telangana Chief Secretary SK Joshi to come up with a proper solution to address the problems of the labourers.

The Indian Embassy arranged for temporary exit visas and also flight tickets for the stranded workers, it said.

Rama Rao expressed his happiness over their return.

He also thanked the Indian Embassy and Telangana state NRI Affairs officials for their prompt response, the release added.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Mumbai, May 5: The BJP has written to the Election Commission of India seeking action against Congress and the opposition leader, Vijay Wadettiwar, for allegedly peddling lies and defaming its Mumbai North Central nominee and ex-26/11 prosecution lawyer Ujjwal Nikam.

Wadettiwar, the leader of the opposition in the Maharashtra legislative assembly, purportedly called Nikam an "anti-national" and accused him of hiding the information that then Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare wasn't killed by Kasab's bullet during the 26/11 terror attack, but fell to a bullet of a policeman affiliated to RSS.

His allegations were based on the book "Who Killed Karkare" written by retired police officer SM Mushriff.

"As a responsible leader, the opposition leader should desist from making such comments that can help the enemy nation," Nikam said.

Terming Wadettiwar's statements as "false and not based on facts", Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shekar claimed they were aimed at defaming Ujjwal Nikam and inciting emotions.

"We have written to the Election Commission of India seeking action against Wadettiwar who is a star campaigner (of Congress) and also against the Congress party for peddling lies," he added.

Shelar further said (Ajmal) Kasab was sentenced to death for killing innocent people after following a due process of law.

Kasab was the lone terrorist who was captured alive by Mumbai Police during the 26/11 terror attack by Pakistani terrorists in which at least 166 people were killed and several others were injured.

Shelar wondered whether Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray supported the statement made by the Congress leader.

A former special public prosecutor, Nikam had represented the state in high-profile cases like the Mumbai serial bomb blasts and the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.

He is making his political foray from Mumbai North Central seat on a BJP ticket and is pitted against city Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad.