Congress breathes fire over arrests

Nalgonda: The arrests of Congress party leaders and activists continued in erstwhile Nalgonda district on Friday too. Police arrested hundreds of protesters at various checkposts and toll plazas, when they were trying to leave for Hyderabad to participate in Chalo Assembly programme. The police later shifted them to nearest police stations and released in the evening.

Expressing anger over government’s restriction and arrests, congress activists staged a dharna in Nakrekal town. The police arrested them and sent to local police station. In Aler, NSUI and Youth Congress leaders burnt an effigy of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for the arrest of Congress leaders and raised slogans in favor of farmers.

The arrested protesters staged a dharna on Chityala police station premises and raised slogans against government’s anti-farmer polices. They demanded the government to pay Minimum Support Price to paddy and cotton irrespective of moisture content and compensation of Rs 25,000 per acre in the event of crop loss due to untimely rains.

Nakrekal former MLA Chirumarthi Lingaiah, who was house arrested, stated that overcoming all the hurdles created by the government, the Congress leaders and workers succeeded in grabbing the attention of people and government over the farmers issues by staging protests at police stations and other places.

He advised the government to provide MSP to farm produce and compensation for damaged crops.
CLP deputy leader Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and DCC president Budida Bixamaiah Goud thanked party leaders and cadre for making the programme a grand success.

Meanwhile, district police also arrested hundreds of fair price dealers of Nalgonda and Khammam districts, who were leaving for Hyderabad to attend state-level meeting against government’s move to close fair price shops in the name of money transfer to beneficiaries.

In Khammam: Hitting out at the TRS government for the preventive arrests of Congress leaders ahead of Chalo Assembly programme, the convener of the Congress party Minority Cell MD Fazal blazed that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao was ruling like a monarch by suppressing the voice of opposition parties for questioning ‘anti-people’ policies adopted by the government.

The Congress party leaders and activists had burnt an effigy of KCR here in front of R&B guest house in Khammam on Friday.

Speaking on the occasion, Fazal said that preventive arrests of Congress leaders and workers ahead of Chalo Assembly programme was nothing gagging the voice of opposition. “The Chief Minister is acting like an autocrat and killing the democracy by going ahead with illegal detention of opposition leaders,” Fazal criticised.

Reminding that in a democratic country like India, everyone has right to express their views and protest against the governments, the Congress leader stated that people in the State were watching every move of the TRS government and would teach a befitting lesson in coming up days.

Party activists MD Haqeem, T Ramu, B Rama Krishna, N Srinivas, D Susheel Naik and Chota Baba were present along with others.