Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy was on Wednesday abruptly interrupted during his public meeting at Mancherial town held in connection with the launch of ‘Indiramma Kalalu’ programme. The interruption, albeit for a few minutes, came when opposition MLAs, Nallala Odelu (TRS) from Chennur and Gunda Mallesh (CPI) from Bellampally in Adilabad district vehemently objected to an observation made by Mr. Reddy questioning the level of awareness among opposition parties in general and the Chennur MLA in particular about the contentious power tariff hike issue.
In response to a plea made by the Chennur MLA to rollback the Rs. 6,000 crore worth hike in power charge effected recently, Mr. Reddy insinuated that the MLA and opposition parties were ignorant about the gamut of the issue. “I still wonder why the opposition parties sat on the road yesterday in protest over the supposed power tariff hike,” he observed.
At this stage, Mr. Odelu and the CPI MLA stood up to oppose the remarks made by the Chief Minister. There was a lot of gesticulating between the three leaders as the opposition MLAs contented that they were insulted while Mr. Reddy wanted them to get back to their seats.
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Minister intervenes
Peace was restored after the intervention of Backward Classes Welfare Minister Basavaraj Saraiah, but the Chennur MLA did not seem to have been pacified. He told reporters after the event that he would lodge a complaint against the Chief Minister under the SC, ST Atrocities Prevention Act for ‘pushing' him and denigrating him by questioning his level of awareness on the burning issue.
Meanwhile, Mr. Reddy went ahead with explaining about the SC, ST Sub Plan and ‘Indiramma Kalalau’ which was launched by him earlier at Chinna Gopalpur village near Mancherial. He promised to meet the irrigation and other needs of Adilabad district from the Pranahita-Chevella Lift Irrigation Scheme before water was supplied to other districts.
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The Chief Minsiter distributed house site pattas to 6,600 beneficiaries and cheques to self-help groups and laid foundation stones for 14 programmes. He interacted with tribal families at Chinna Gopalpur and had lunch with them at Mancherial. Social Welfare Minister Pitani Satyanarayana and Tribal Welfare Minister P. Balaraju also attended the programme besides MLAs G. Arvind Reddy (Mancherial), Atram Sakku (Asifabad), Kaveti Sammaiah (Sirpur), A. Maheshwar Reddy (Nirmal) and MLCs K. Premsagar Rao and Venkat Rao. The security was manned by top officials including Warangal Region Inspector General of Police A.B. Venkateswara Rao.