A change of guard at the Centre has compelled Central Government officials to change their stated position on according the status of freedom fighters on those who took part in the Telangana armed struggle from 1946 to 1949 to liberate Hyderabad State.

When Communist Party of India (CPI) veteran Indrajit Gupta was the Home Minister, the Centre declared that all those who participated in the armed struggle would be accorded the status of freedom fighters and announced pension for them on par with those who took part in the movement led by the Congress in pre-Independence days.

Gupta constituted a State-level screening committee headed by senior CPI leader Ch Rajeswar Rao two years ago to identify those eligible for it. After vigorously touring thedistricts, the panel scanned through bundles of applications and prepared a list of 12,500 fighters.

Based on the list, Deputy Home Secretary Sasheer Jha was sent to Andhra Pradesh to verify the claims. Jha completed the verification of around 3,000 claims by December last year.

But, in the meanwhile, the United Front regime fell and the BJP-led coalition Government took over at the Centre. Suddenly, the State unit of the BJP came out with a booklet in Telugu titled `Desa drohulaku pinchanula?' (freedom fighter pensions for anti-nationals?).

State BJP president Ch Vidyasagar Rao wrote a letter to Home Minister L K Advani, urging him to scuttle the proposal for sanctioning pensions for those recommended by the Communists. The BJP MP, in fact, contended that the Communists worked against the freedom movement as well as the Indian Army.

Another objection raised by the BJP leaders was that most of claimants were ``bogus'' and some of them were not even born during the freedom movement. Promptly,Advani put on hold the pensions and ordered an inquiry into the whole issue.

The Home Ministry also raised objections on the historic role of the Telangana armed struggle.

Apart from that, the Home Ministry also asked the Andhra Pradesh Government to cross-check the veracity of the claims made by the applicants selected by the screening committee. A senior State revenue official told The Indian Express that so far the Government had received 2,000 applications from the Centre.

Even as the district collectors are now on the job of verifying claims, several applicants in the twilight of their life are panicky, unable to know the fate of their pensions. ``After waiting for five decades, they got the opportunity now, but the BJP wants to spoil it,'' said a screening panel member.