Leaders of various political parties, who attempted to take out the ‘Chalo Assembly’ demanding Special Category Status (SCS), were taken into custody at different places on Monday.
Leaders of the YSR Congress Party, the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Congress and the ‘Pratyeka Hoda Sadhana Samithi’ and other affiliated organisations gave the call for the programme. The leaders organised meetings on Sunday and chalked out plans to make it a success.
They planned to organise a rally from the Tummalapalli Kala Kshetram in Vijayawada and proceed towards the Assembly.
No permission,
say police
However, the police foiled the plans and arrested 357 agitators. The police said they would deal sternly with the agitators as there was no permission for the programme.
The police arranged pickets and deployed additional forces to prevent the protesters from reaching the Assembly.
“Pratyeka Hoda Sadhana Samithi leaders Shivaji and Chalasani Srinivas, who reached the city from West Godavari around midnight, were taken into custody and shifted to Hyderabad,” a police officer said.
CPI and CPI(M) State secretaries K. Ramakrishna and P. Madhu, YSRCP leaders Kolusu Parthasarathi and A. Srinivas were among the arrested.
They were shifted to Unguturu, Ibrahimpatnam, Nunna, Pamidimukkala, Machavaram, Thotlavalluru and other police stations and security was beefed up at Velagapudi.
The protesters were taken into preventive custody under Section 151 CrPc, a police officer said.
“We allowed the SCS supporters for organising a meeting at the ‘Dharna Chowk’, near the Alankar theatre. They were arrested when they tried to organise ‘Chalo Assembly,” said City Police Commissioner D. Gautam Sawang.
‘Govt. to blame’
Meanwhile, the agitators blamed the government for arresting them though they planned to organise the programme peacefully and submit a memorandum to the Speaker, demanding SCS.
