(Photo in Nica)
The police department detained prominent leaders and activists of the major opposition parties in Tirupati on Thursday, ahead of the visit of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Sensing trouble, the department detained the leaders of the TDP, BJP and Left parties and placed some under house arrest. TDP Tirupati parliamentary constituency in-charge G. Narasimha Yadav accused the government of muzzling the voice of the Opposition, instead of giving a patient hearing. “This shows that the government is not ready to accept positive criticism,” he charged.
Addressing the media later, he said the former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s dream had been realised with the launch of Tata cancer hospital. “Jagan will only cut the ribbon for projects envisaged by our leader,” he said. He also condemned the Chief Minister’s charges made at the ‘Jagananna Vidya Deevena’ launch accusing the TDP workers of resorting to rape and question paper leaks.
BJP State spokesperson and former TTD trust board member G. Bhanuprakash Reddy, whose demonstration bid was also foiled by the police, wondered if the police department functioned ‘in accordance with IPC or YCP rules’. He said the government had scant respect for democratic values. He sat on a demonstration against the government’s ‘failure to provide safety to women’ in the State and also to curb ‘rampant alcoholism and drug menace’, before the police whisked him away.
The TTD forest workers, who have been agitating for the last 537 days for better livelihood sources, were prevented from moving out of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) office and their attempt to submit a representation to the Chief Minister was foiled. The agitators led by CITU district secretary K. Murali shouted slogans against the TTD management for neither sticking to its trust board resolutions, nor implementing the High Court directions.
