Bid to lay siege to Vidyut Soudha foiled

Hyderabad: The police on Saturday foiled 'maha dharna' organised by Telangana Electricity Employees (TEE) Union against the illegal arrest of T leaders made during 'Chalo Assembly' agitation staged on Friday here. Telangana JAC chairman Prof. Kodandaram, BJP leader N Janardhan Reddy, TRS MLA KT Rama Rao and TEE president K Raghu were arrested when they tried to lay siege the office protesting the arrest of T protagonists. Soon after the leaders accompanied by JAC workers and employees reached the office, police took them into custody and shifted them to nearby police stations. Strongly condemning the arrest of the MLAs, BJP leader Janardhan Reddy said the Indian constitution has given the right to participate in protests and stage dharnas in a democratic way. The arrest of the MLAs was a mockery of parliamentary democracy. He said that he would lodge complain to Speaker N Manohar against the arrest of the MLAs and also move privilege notices. TRS leader KTR said the Congress-led government was suppressing the rights of people in the form of arrests. He alleged that the APTransco CMD Hiralal Samaria was dictating terms in an autocratic way by not allowing them to participate in lunch-hour demonstration organised by electricity employees at the office. TEE leader Raghu criticised the government for the delay in the formation of Telangana. He warned to intensify the T agitation if the Centre did not give up its delaying tactics in announcing the bifurcation of State in future. Mild tension prevailed at the office when police obstructed T activists for some time. Vehicular traffic came to a grinding halt for over one hour on the busy road.