The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has shifted the venue for its March 19 public meeting to mark the culmination of a marathon padayatra by the State unit secretary Tammineni Veerabhadram from Nizam College to Saroornagar Stadium.
The venue for culminaiton of rally, in which Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was scheduled to participate, was shifted as the State Government refused permission at Nizam College owing to a threat from the local BJP MLA Raja Singh in view of attacks on RSS-BJP cadre in Kerala.
At a press conference on Sunday, the CPI (M) State committee members B. Venkat and J. Ranga Reddy criticised the Government for cancelling permission and instead asking the party to hold the event at some place 20 km outside the city. The party had decided to change the venue to Saroornagar Stadium though it initially mulled seeking legal recourse on the Government’s decision not to permit the rally. “Since approaching the court would take some time, we have decided to shift the venue to Saroornagar,” Mr. Venkat said.
Several prominent leaders of CPI (M), including general secretary Sitaram Yechury, Mr. Pinarayi and leaders of several social organisations were expected to participate.
The CPI (M) has charged the State Government with failing to fulfil the promises made by the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti in the run up to the previous elections.
Several promises including three-acre land to every SC family, double bedroom houses and waiver of crop loan in one go remained on paper. The Government was, however, trying to hoodwink the people by spending token amounts on double bedroom housing scheme and three-care land to each dalit family, the party leaders alleged.
They alleged that 95% of the promises were yet to be fulfilled by the Government. The party was prepared to prove its charges if Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao expressed his willingness to participate in an open debate. The CPI (M) would wait for the Chief Minister’s response till March 19, the day of its public meeting at Saroornagar.