Left party leaders protest 'repression'

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, JUNE 24. Leaders of the nine Left parties and workers were arrested when they were staging a "dharna" in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue in the State Legislative Assembly on Saturday, in protest against the ``brutal'' lathicharge on their workers in Vijayawada.

Those arrested for defying prohibitory orders in force in the area included Mr. Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy, Secretary of State Council of CPI, Mr. B. V. Raghavulu, Secretary of State Committee of CPI (M), Mr. B. N. Reddy (MCPI), Mr. V. Venkataramayya (CPI-ML - New democracy), Mr. Prasad (CPI- ML- Janasakthi), Mr. D. Harinath (CPI-ML- Liberation), Mr. G. Vijay Kumar (CPI-ML-Unity Initiative), Mr. Sridhar (SUCI), Mr. K. Venkateswara Rao (ML Committee).

Before going to the Assembly, the leaders met the Governor, Dr. C. Rangarajan, and submitted a memorandum urging him to bring pressure on the State Government to roll back the power tariff hike.

They also handed over to the Governor, the papers having signatures reportedly of 20 lakh people, collected from all over the State during a campaign against the hike. In the memorandum, the Left parties said the increase in power tariff was on the direction of the World Bank and the Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, had already announced that the tariff would be raised every year.

In a meeting that lasted five minutes, the CPI(M) MP, Dr. Y. Radhakrishnamurthy, briefed the Governor on the ongoing agitation, how the power tariff hike had burdened the common man and the repression unleashed by the police, especially in Vijayawada against the peaceful agitators not sparing even women and mediapersons. A bandh was observed in Vijayawada against the police action.

At the Punjagutta police station in city, where women workers of Left parties were taken after demonstrating against a World Bank meeting, policemen misbehaved with women.

Later addressing a press conference, Mr. Sudhakar Reddy, said the Governor observed that he had noted their concern and would consider their appeal sympathetically. Mr. Reddy claimed that papers having 30 lakh more signatures were being gathered from all over the State and once they were received they would be submitted to the Governor.

Mr. Raghavulu said the Government was using harsh measures to scuttle the agitation, but the Left parties would carry it on till the hike is withdrawn. ``We will intensify the agitation if the Government fails to pay heed to the Governor's promised intervention.''

The leaders of these nine parties were to meet in the morning to chalk out a future course of agitation and brief the press in the afternoon. But with most of them being arrested while staging the dharna the meeting was postponed to evening.

In the absence of these leaders, Mr. Koratala Satyanarayana, CPI(M) Central Committee member, said continuing its ``unprecedented repressive measures,'' the police beat up and raided the houses of CPI(M) workers at Amarchinta at midnight, when they had demonstrated against the hike during the day. The workers were dragged out and arrested. He had brought this to the notice of the Home Minister, Mr. T. Devender Goud. In Tekkali too, the workers were lathicharged while they staged demonstration during the visit of the Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Mr. T. Seetharam.

He denied the Telugu Desam charge that his party was provoking people to resort to violence and that it was behind the attack on a TDP leader in Nalgonda.

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Section  : Southern States
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