HYDERABAD: Stating that properties belonging to religious institutions cannot be considered for organising political meetings, the State government on Friday denied permission to the Congress to hold its proposed public meeting in an open land at Tukkuguda on September 17.
Responding to the application filed by Rangareddy DCC president Challa Narasimha Reddy, Telangana Endowments Commissioner V Anil Kumar said that the open land was the property of the Sri Venkateshwara Swamy temple.
He said that in view of Sections 5 (Prohibition of use of funds of religious institutions for certain activities), and 6 (prohibition of religious assets for propagating political ideas) of the Religious Institutions (Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1988, the request cannot be considered.
Earlier, the Congress had tried to hold a massive public meeting at the Parade Ground, but the defence ministry granted permission to the Union government to organise “Telangana Liberation Day” celebrations.
The grand old party plans to use the proposed public meeting to launch the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc Lok Sabha election campaign. However, it is still not clear whether constituents of the INDIA bloc would participate in the public meeting.
AICC general secretary KC Venugopal had pointed out to Congress leaders that the public meeting, to be attended by Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and other top leaders, will be the first after the formation of the INDIA bloc. He asked the Telangana Congress leaders to effectively utilise the stage for the upcoming Assembly elections by bringing the five guarantees to every household in the State.
With permission being denied to hold the proposed public meeting on the open land at Tukkuguda, the Congress is expected to fall back to its third option, the Gachibowli stadium.