VIJAYAWADA: Scores of activists from Left parties and opposition YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) were detained by the police near Dharna Chwok here on Monday while they were on their way to participate in ‘Chalo Assembly’. The protest was called by Pratyeka Hoda and Vibhajana Hameela Sadhana Samiti demanding the State Government to mount pressure on the Centre to grant Special Catgeory Status to Andhra Pradesh.
Tension gripped near Alankar theatre, Gandhi Nagar in the morning when a group of activists from Aam Adami Party (AAP), CPI (M), AIYF, AISF, PDSU were stopped by police to foil their attempt to participate in ‘Chalo Assembly’. The police shifted the detained activists to Nunna police station and later let them off.
Young activists of AISF, SFI, and PDSU tried to shield the top brass of Left party leaders. Scuffles broke out between the functionaries and the police. YSRC leaders at different locations raised slogans against Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s dictatorial rule in the State.
Sensing trouble at the earliest, police swung into action and forcibly arrested most of the top leaders of opposition parties. By 11.30 a.m, almost all leaders and activists were arrested and held in various police stations. Dharna chowk reverberated with slogans raised by party functionaries highlighting the failure of the TDP Government to get Special Category Status. In a statement, CPI State Secretary K Ramakrishna took strong exception to Naidu for his inefficiency in granting special category status to the State. “The CM has become a puppet in the hands of corporates and jeopardising the future of the farmers by safeguarding the interests of multi-national companies,” he alleged.
CPM State secretary P Madhu came down heavily on the Centre for turning blind to the sufferings of the farming community in Rayalaseema which has been lashed by a series of natural calamities. “The whole State is eagerly waiting for special category status to be accorded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The MPs and Union Ministers, hailing from the State, are mute spectators, ignoring the revenue deficit under which the State is reeling,” he said.
’Lakhs of youth will get jobs once the Special Category Status is granted to the State,’’ said YSRC State leader K Parthasarthy He alleged that Chandrababu Naidu is satisfied with the ‘Special Package’ given by the Centre. He did not strongly demand for Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh. YSRCP leaders Jogi Ramesh, Malladi Vishnu, CPM leader Chigurupati Babu Rao, CPI city Secretary Donepudi Sankar and others also spoke on the occasion.
