Jillella case gives TD, Congress an opening

The Congress and Telugu Desam have announced that they would intensify their agitation against the police excesses on Dalits belonging to Jillella village in Sircilla Assembly constituency till the officials responsible are punished.

Congress leaders on Monday met at the Gandhi Bhavan and decided to organise a “Chalo Sircilla” rally on July 31 and hold protest marches at all district headquarters on July 26.

Briefing newsmen after the meeting, TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy held minister K.T. Rama Rao responsible for the police excesses on Dalits in his own constituency and demanded his immediate ouster from the state Cabinet, besides an unconditional apology from Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao for failing to stop such an incident.

He said atrocities against Dalits were going unchecked in TS ever since the TRS came to power. “The Jillella incident proved that the police personnel themselves committed atrocities on Dalits who were trying to prevent sand smuggling going on with the involvement of local TRS leaders,” Mr Uttam Kumar Reddy said.

He said that though Congress leaders met the DGP and represented the matter, the police chief failed to take any action, despite having promised to do so within three days.

Elsewhere, TD working president A. Revanth Reddy said that the party was going to lodge a complaint with the National Green Tribunal on the way the illegal quarries of sand were being allowed to function with the help of police and revenue administration in the state including the sand reaches allegedly in the hands of TRS leaders.