Telugu Desam Party president N. Chandrababu Naidu on Sunday said the campaign against the Babli project was directed against the Maharashtra government and not against the people of that State.
“There is no controversy between the people of Maharashtra and Telangana. Chief Minister Ashok Chavan is going ahead with the project since it is in his constituency, Nanded,'' he said at a press conference here.
He took strong exception to the “action and treatment” meted out by the Maharashtra police to his party members, including Members of Parliament and legislators. He said 66 MPs, MLAs and MLCs were subjected to inhuman treatment with inadequate facilities.
The TDP delegation was taken into custody on the pretext that they would be conducted to the site. “Do we need a visa to travel within our own country?'' he sought to know.
On the charge of Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao that the TDP was staging the protest with an eye on the by-polls to 12 Assembly constituencies this week, Mr. Naidu pointed out that the TDP had been raising the issue for the past six years.
During the day, Mr. Naidu called on the CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan. He said the CPI leader condemned the “attack” on the TDP delegation by the Maharashtra police.
