KCR calls for bandh today

other parties call for protests

Hyderabad: TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday gave a call for Telangana Bandh on Saturday to protest against the police excesses in the name of preventive arrests and bind-overs on Telangana activists in the region.

Condemning the police highhandedness on the protestors, KCR said it was undemocratic to arrest the TJAC leaders, the TRS MLAs and the party workers. He demanded that the government should release all the activists immediately. But the other parties which had extended their cooperation and actively participated in the Chalo Assembly call have opposed the KCR decision.

The CPI State Secretary K Narayana said that they would not participate in the bandh. Instead, the party has given a call to its cadre to organise rallies in districts to protest against police excesses. He criticised KCR for taking unilateral decision. The BJP State President G Kishen Reddy said that his party has nothing to do with the bandh.

The TDP too has decided not to participate in the bandh. "We condemn the unilateral decision of KCR," TDP T forum convenor E Dayakar Rao said. Similarly, the Jana Chaitanya Vedika also asked the TRS not to go ahead with the bandh call. In a statement, V Lakshman Reddy, president of the Vedika said that the bandh would cause problems for the common man and the unorganised labour.

TJAC declared its support to bandh of TRS as well as protest programmes of other parties. BJP?decided to burn effigies of government at all the disricts and mandal headquarters. They did not accept TJAC's plea to support the bandh. However, OU students JAC, TMU, Employees Union and GHMEU have extended their support to the bandh call.