The D-Day has arrived for the much talked about Telangana March with the Telangana joint action committee (TJAC) making all out efforts to mobilise a huge crowd and the government imposing numerous restrictions on the rally after reluctantly giving the permission for four hours from 3 p.m. on Sunday.
The intelligence inputs with the police suggest that a crowd of about one lakh could converge although the organisers have drawn up plans to mobilise 4.5 lakh people. The police also braced themselves to face likely violence, mostly from students and youth, by deploying a huge force around Necklace Road where two stages have been erected at People’s Plaza and PV Ghat.
Director General of Police (Law and Order) S.A. Huda declined to disclose the strength of police force being deployed, but confirmed that extra precautionary steps were being taken such as aerial survey and barricading of roads. The police top brass were involved in a series of meetings to plan out strategies. Later in the day, DGP V. Dinesh Reddy called on Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy to brief him about the arrangements.
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Sources said the game-plan of the government was to ensure minimal crowd by imposing strict restrictions and show that the sentiment of separate Telangana had faded. The TJAC complained to Panchayat Raj Minister K. Jana Reddy that hundreds of Telangana supporters were being arrested in districts to prevent them from reaching the city. It also expressed apprehension that the vehicles transporting them might be detained on Sunday.
Home Minister P. Sabita Indra Reddy denied permission to students from Osmania University seeking to join the March in a rally from the campus. The students reportedly wanted to go on Tank Bund which will be closed on Sunday. On the other hand, a couple of organisations wanted to symbolically perform the tenth day ceremony of Konda Laxman Bapuji at Jala Drushyam, his home for several years, which was also not allowed.
The March will be held with Necklace Road as the destination, but various organisations and parties have chosen different starting points. The main stage for political speeches will be at PV Ghat, but another one for cultural artistes has come up at People’s Plaza.
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A host of leaders, including K. Keshava Rao and Komatireddy Venkat Reddy of Congress, TRS MLAs Etala Rajender and Jupally Krishna Rao, and CPI floor leader in Assembly Gunda Mallesh took care of the arrangements.