Police on Friday prevented the YSR Congress MLAs from proceeding to the Assembly to stage a dharna demanding TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu to withdraw his letter to the Centre on bifurcation of the State.
The YSR Congress legislators first assembled at Telugu Talli statue near Secretariat and were proceeding to the Assembly when the police stopped their rally. They were prevented from going ahead with the rally and taken to Gandhinagar police station.
The party MLAs decried the police action and staged a dharna at the police station. YSR Congress honorary president Y.S.Vijayamma rushed to the station to extend solidarity with the agitating elected representatives.
Addressing the gathering, she demanded that the Congress should take back its decision on division of the State in wake of the unprecedented agitation across Seemandhra region. She said it was unfortunate that the YSR Congress legislators, who were going in a rally in support of united Andhra Pradesh, were arrested.
She said the TDP chief, who had given a letter to the Pranab Mukherjee Committee in support of the bifurcation, should be withdrawn. She sought to know why the TDP chief and his party’s MPs and MLAs were reluctant to resign.
YSR Congress MLA Shoba Nagi Reddy said that the legislators were merely going towards Dr. B.R.Ambedkar statue on the Tank Bund and then to Gandhi statue on the Assembly premises, when the police, without any provocation, stopped them. She said the TDP leaders were indulging in dual talk. While some were for unified Andhra Pradesh, others were openly supporting division. The YSR Congress leaders ridiculed Mr. Naidu’s support to division and seeking Rs. 4.50 lakh crore package to build new capital.
In a related development, Y.S. Sharmila attended a meeting of the party seniors at the headquarters along with Ms. Vijayamma. This is the first time she made an appearance at the party office. The meeting was convened to decide the agenda for the broad-based meeting of the party office-bearers, Central Governing and Executive Committee members.