Rumblings in Cong. over pace of stir

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, JUNE 30. Some senior Congress leaders are unhappy over the way the dharna programme was organised at the Gandhi statue on the Assembly premises on Friday to highlight "police excesses". They feel the demonstration of the party bigwigs at the statue would not help infuse confidence among workers who are on the roads to face a ``hostile'' police force.

A former Minister said, ``It would have been better if we had picketed the DGP office.'' Some partymen were also critical of the decision to meet the DGP to complain against the ``police oppression,'' which was, however, dropped by the leadership in the wake of the police chief, pointing an accusing finger at the Congress in connection with the Guntur violence.

It would have been appropriate to meet the Governor or the Chief Minister but not the police chief, a former APCC general secretary opined.

The APCC president, Mr.M. Satyanarayana Rao, however holds the view that there is nothing wrong in meeting the DGP ``who is an all-India services officer and is expected to act impartially.'' But in the wake the reported statement of the DGP on the Guntur incidents, Mr. Rao sailed with other party leaders who opposed the idea of going in a delegation to the DGP.

The PCC president even went a step ahead and accused the Chief Minister, Mr.N. Chandrababu Naidu, of threatening and pressuring the DGP to ``speak against'' against the Congress.

A month after launching the agitation against the hike in power tariffs, the party leadership is concerned about the strategies to sustain it over a longer period, though Mr. Rao and the leader of CLP, Dr.Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, have repeatedly proclaimed that there would be no going back till the power rates are rolled back.

The phased agitation began with a day-long dharna in front of the Vidyut Soudha in the city on May 31. A rasta roko programme was organised on June 16 and mandal-level demonstrations were held later. The partymen disrupted gram sabhas held from June 19 to 25. The second phase of agitation began with the dharna on the Assembly premises today.

A day-long mass satyagraha is planned at Vijayawada on July 5 which is to be followed up against by mandal-level dharnas from July 5 to 8 and seminars between July 10 and 20. ``We will not allow the party workers to bear the brunt of the Government's repression. The leaders will be in the forefront of the agitation and we will face the lathis and fill in the jails,''was the assurance both the PCC chief and the CLP leader held out in their speeches at the dharna. The Congressmen expect that people's resentment would swell with the receipt of the first bill from APTRANSCO after the steep hike in tariffs.

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