RIMS police on Monday arrested CPI district secretary G. Easwaraiah, city secretary G. Chandra and leaders T. Balasubrahmanyam, N. Venkatasiva, G. Maddileti, K.C. Badullah, Bogadi Setty and G. Venugopal on charges of grabbing Putlampalle tank land on the outskirts of Kadapa city and putting up huts there. They were produced in court and were remanded in judicial custody.
Mr. Easwaraiah said the party leaders had been organising land occupation struggles but the officials were inept in allotting house sites to 43,000 poor applicants in Kadapa. He resented registration of a case against him and his partymen.
Deploring the arrests and demanding their release, CPI leaders took out a rally from Yerramukkapalli to Kadapa Collectorate and burnt an effigy of Kadapa Tahsildar K. Srinivasulu. They charged the official machinery with not taking action against Congress leaders who grabbed lands and sold them and demanded that officials take over the Government lands that were encroached upon and distribute them to homeless poor.
AITUC secretary Mallikarjuna Reddy, AISF city secretary G. Suresh and leaders Nagaraju, Rangaswamy, Obulaiah, Anjaneyulu, Allah Baksh and Sunil Kumar participated in the protest.
