Telangana state bus driver Shankar Goud poured petrol over himself and set himself on fire. “He was jovial and courteous, always smiling and making friends with strangers. Daily commuters on his bus loved him. He frequently drove from Narsampet to Srisailam and back. Everyone he picked up along the way would greet him; he knew everyone and made new friends daily,” said Bura Suman, son-in-law of K Shankar Goud. Goud, 50, committed suicide on Thursday evening at the Narasampet Bus Depot in Warangal district on the second day of the TGSRTC employees’ strike to press for a host of demands. Suman said that Shankar, with his friendly nature, approached a group of private bus drivers at the Narsampet depot and politely asked them to join the strike rather than oppose it by continuing to drive private buses. “He received a rude reply. I think my father-in-law did not expect that kind of behaviour. He went to other employees who, I think, told him to ignore them.…