Several student leaders of the TDP and the CPI have allegedly been placed under house arrest or detained at police stations in Anantapur and Kurnool districts.
TDP Polit Bureau member Kalava Srinivasulu and CPI State Committee member Kuruva Ramanjaneyulu have accused the police of scuttling the programme to picket the Chief Minister’s residence on Monday.
Mr. Srinivasulu, in a statement here on Sunday, said that the rounding up of all the student leaders belonging to the opposition parties three days prior to the proposed picket was akin to the situation that had prevailed during the Emergency.
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“The TNSF and the TDP have been demanding a new job calendar to fill all the 2.30 lakh vacant posts. The government, instead of addressing the issue, has resorted to arresting the student leaders,” Mr. Srinivasulu said.
In a separate statement from Kurnool, Mr. Ramanjaneyulu said the activists of the AISF, the SFI, and other student leaders of the district, who were readying to leave for Vijayawada, were either confined to their houses or taken to the police stations, which was against the democratic right of the students to express their dissent.
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Meanwhile, high drama preceded the arrest of TDP leader J.C. Pawan Reddy in Anantapur.
The TDP leader, who was coming to Anantapur from Hyderabad, was intercepted by the police at several places between Kurnool and Anantapur. To avoid arrest, Mr. Reddy left his car behind and boarded an RTC bus.
At Anantapur, however, he was taken to the III Town police station and then to the Rapthadu police station. After taking him to a few other police stations, Mr. Reddy was finally placed under house arrest, where, he along with other TNSF activists, staged a dharna.