Ten TRS MLAs staged a silent protest on the Assembly premises on Saturday to protest the alleged highhandedness of police in dealing with Telangana supporters who opposed the APNGOs meeting at the Lal Bahadur stadium.
Two other MLAs, P. Shanker Rao and Nagam Janardhan Reddy, expressed their solidarity to the protest.
Speaking to media persons later, TRS leader T. Harish Rao said the meeting was aimed at provoking the people of Telangana as seen from the gesture by a youth threatening to behead students agitating within the Nizam College hostel. Did the participants for the meeting come to ride roughshod on locals, he asked.
Mr. Harish Rao alleged that the participants were not all government staff who were permitted but there were anti-social elements too.
He demanded the resignation of Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and Director General of Police V. Dinesh Reddy because they were behind the meeting. The deployment of special trains and buses to mobilise crowd was atrocious, he added.
He asked how Gazal singer Srinivas was permitted for the meeting when it was supposed to be meant only for government staff. And he was also led to the stage with honour by an IPS officer.
The Joint Struggle Committee of the Unions of Telangana Officers, Employees, Teachers & Workers (JSC) has criticised APNGOs’ Association chairman P. Ashok Babu for stating that the power to keep the State united was in the hands of Seemandhra employees.
In a statement, chairman of JSC T. Prabhakar said on Saturday that it was the responsibility of the Telangana employees to protect the statehood already announced and they were not ready to forgo it.
