Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is on today sitting on a day-long hunger strike alongside agitating students from the Hyderabad University over dalit scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide. "I am here today at the request of Rohith's friends and family, to stand with them in their fight for justice," Rahul Gandhi said.

"A young life full of dreams and aspirations was cut short. We owe it to him, to the memory of Gandhiji, to every single Indian student who dreams of an India free from prejudice and injustice," Rahul said.

This is Rahul's second visit to Hyderabad since the Dalit scholar's suicide. The Congress vice-president had visited the university on January 19 and met agitating students and Rohith's family members.

Three of the students, including two research scholars who were earlier suspended, sat on a fast until death, demanding that vice chancellor Appa Rao Podile be fired and arrested and Smrithi Irani and Bandaru Dattaretreya be dropped from the cabinet.

“Rahul Gandhi and Congress are so politically bankrupt and unemployed that he has to politicise tragic death of a student repeatedly,” Telangana BJP spokesperson Krishna Saagar Rao said.

“Why is Rahul Gandhi not in Chennai, where three girls’ committed suicide almost a week ago,” he asked. “His desperate attempt to earn some petty political expediency, has brought him back to HCU campus. This is classic politics of vulturisation,” Rao said.

Congress which is out of power with a humiliating defeat is trying to emulate some kind of political mileage for its survival. Many students attempted suicide in the past several years when Congress was in power, but no action was taken to address the demands of Dalit students.

Dr Vipin Srivastava who took charge as the interim vice-chancellor of Hyderabad Central University went on leave as of Friday afternoon.

"Dr Vipin Srivastava, who took charge as the interim vice-chancellor of Hyderabad Central University, has proceeded for leave from the afternoon of January 29 and the next senior most professor Dr M Pariasamy will perform the duties of the VC till further orders," a university official said.

By Premji