Protesting Congress leaders held

Policemen lifting Congress workers who were enforcing a bandh in Mahabubnagar district on Saturday.– Photo: PTI

A bandh was observed in Mahbubnagar district and senior Congress leaders tried to surge towards the Chief Minister’s camp office here defying police on Saturday against the assault on party MLA of Makthal, C. Rammohan Reddy, by his TRS counterpart G. Balaraju at the Zilla Parishad meeting the previous day.

The police took into custody 31 Congress leaders, including Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, Leader of Opposition K. Jana Reddy and MPs Nandi Yellaiah and V. Hanumantha Rao, near the camp office. They were shifted to Panjagutta police station, where they again squatted on the road, leading to a traffic jam.

Barring damage to an RTC bus at Atmakur mandal headquarters village, the bandh in Mahbubnagar district passed off peacefully.

The Congress cadre were arrested at all the nine bus depots in the district – Mahabubnagar, Shadnagar, Wanaparthy, Kalwakurthy, Nagarkurnool, Atchampet, Gadwal, Narayanpet and Kollapur – as they obstructed the fleet from taking to roads. The district Congress president Obaidullah Kotwal led the demonstration at Mahbubnagar.

Over 800 buses were confined to depots till the afternoon but the services were resumed later. The bandh was effective in Assembly constituencies represented by Congress MLAs.

A meeting of TPCC took a serious view of the assault on Mr. Rammohan Reddy at Gandhi Bhavan here and decided to lodge a strong complaint with Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan.

Accordingly, they met Mr. Narasimhan at Raj Bhavan and sought action against Mr. Balaraju. Then, the leaders and workers proceeded to the camp office but were stopped by police. Tension mounted with the leaders entering into an argument with the police. But, they were soon taken away to police station in vehicles.

Separately, leaders of Ranga Reddy district belonging to Congress, TDP, BJP, YSR Congress and CPI also met Mr. Narasimhan to complain about the change in the design of Pranahita – Chevella project.

The delegation comprised former Home Minister P. Sabita Indira Reddy, TDP MLAs T. Prakash Goud, K.P. Vivekananda, A. Gandhi, and Congress legislators P. Rammohan Reddy and M. Rangareddy, and CPI district secretary N. Balamallesh.

Bandh in Mahabubnagar against assault on Congress MLA