Tense moments prevailed in Bhadrachalam when a section of the striking TSRTC employees, accompanied by cadres of the Left parties, made a vain bid to block the convoy of Tribal Welfare Minister Satyavathi Rathod during the latter’s visit to the town on Wednesday.
The police accompanying the minister’s cavalcade were caught off-guard by a group of protesters, who suddenly hit the road and squatted in front of the Minister’s convoy vehicle while she was on her way to the historic Sri Sitaramachandra Swamy temple to offer prayers, sources said.
Mild commotion broke out as demonstrators raised slogans against the government accusing it of adopting a rigid attitude towards the RTC employees’ strike leaving them in distress. Police immediately dragged them away and cleared the way for the Minister’s car to proceed towards the shrine.
KCR’s ‘attitude’
Communist Party of India (CPI) State secretary Chada Venkat Reddy alleged that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s ‘attitude’ has led to the strike by RTC employees.
He was here on Wednesday to extend support to the ongoing agitation at the new bus stand.
“Even Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan has been meeting workers and taking representations. What is preventing Mr. KCR from doing the same? Why is he so adamant?” asked Mr. Venkat Reddy, adding that the Chief Minister has been behaving like a dictator and not respecting democratic values.
“So far, 27 RTC employees died or committed suicide in the State due to the attitude of Mr. KCR. Purification of land records has not yet been completed and several problems are cropping up. The same man who once showered praises on revenue employees, is criticising them now. The reports published by the ruling party’s newspaper instigated people to attack the revenue employees,” the CPI leader alleged.
Saying that the State was neck-deep in debts to the tune of ₹3 lakh crore, he said that none of the irrigation projects was completed so far. Mr. Venkat Reddy demanded that KCR should hold discussions with RTC employees immediately.
