Cong. calls for 'Rangareddi dt. bandh' today

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, JULY 26. The Congress has called for a `Rangareddi district bandh' on Friday, a day ahead of the crucial election of the Zilla Parishad chairman. According to the APCC spokesman, Mr. K. Keshav Rao, the bandh is aimed at `expressing people's ire against the intimidation of ZPTC candidates and sabotage of democracy by the ruling Telugu Desam Party.'

He said the Congress had decided not to allow the ZP chairman's election unless Mr. K. Bhasker, ZPTC member from Moinabad, was released from captivity and produced at the special meeting. It would launch direct action thereafter. It has decided to step up pressure since the party leaders failed to get any assurance from the Rangareddi district authorities about `freeing' the ZPTC member.

Addressing a press conference along with Mrs. P. Sabitha, MLA, Mr. K. Ram Reddy, former Minister, the DCC president, Mr. Daulat Khan, the PCC spokesman launched a frontal attack on the State Election Commission (SEC) and the Government for their failure to facilitate completion of the ZP election process in a free and fair manner.

The SEC, he said, had taken no action so far on the PCC's petition that TDP leaders were intimidating Mr. Bhasker to defy the verdict of the people who had opted for the Congress. It was the SEC's bounden duty to pull up the District Collector and the SP, both of whom were under its control till polls were over for not producing the member.

Accusing the authorities of adopting different standards for the ruling TDP and the Congress, he said that the police in Karimnagar district safely escorted three ZPTC members to the TDP office following a complaint that they had been kidnapped by the TRS leaders. But, the police were unwilling to do the same in Rangareddi district.

Answering a question, Mrs. Sabitha denied that Mr. Bhasker faced a physical threat from her and undertook to guarantee his safety and security if he was handed over to the Congress camp in the presence of the media.

Meanwhile, the APCC president, Mr. M. Satyanarayana Rao, wrote a strongly worded letter to the Chief Minister stating that there was a wide gap between his precept and practice of value-based politics. He said he still hoped that Mr. Naidu would save democracy in Rangareddi district by ensuring that Mr. Bhasker was released from the TDP's clutches.

Earlier, Congress leaders staged an hour-long dharna outside the Rangareddi District Collector's office demanding the release of Mr. Bhasker who, they alleged, was being held captive by the TDP. The demonstration threw vehicular traffic haywire as the Congress leaders squatted on the main road opposite the Collector's office.

The PCC chief participated in the dharna briefly before leaving for Tirupati to mediate in a dispute among Congress leaders of Chittoor over the choice of the vice- chairperson candidate.

Mrs. Sabitha, Mr. D. Nagender, Asifnagar MLA, Mr. P. Janardhan Reddy, former CLP leader, Mr. Nandi Yellaiah, ex-MP, and the A. P. Youth Congress president, Mr. P. Sudhakar Reddy, addressed the gathering and blamed the Home Minister, Mr. T. Devender Goud, for engineering the entire drama.

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Section  : Southern States
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