KCR crushes youth rally, may trigger floating of a new party
Fearing Jallikattu type protests the state government has ordered the police not to allow any mass gathering.
rally demanding recruitment to 1.07 lakh vacant government jobs as promised by the Chief Minister two years ago in the Assembly.
The manner in which Kodandaram was arrested at 3 am as police broke open the doors of his Tarnaka house in the city has evoked widespread protests from opposition parties as well as social media. He was kept at Kamatipura police station in the Old City and was released in the evening after the rally’s proposed time closed.
Fearing “Jallikattu type” prolonged protests on the streets of Hyderabad, the state government has or- dered the police not to allow any mass gathering on the city streets. The intelligence wing of the police got reports that the JAC was planning to continue the staggered protests at the venue till the government comes down and announces filling up all the vacancies.
The denial of permission by the police to hold the rally even after Kodandaram moved the High Court, has deepened the chasm between the ruling TRS and the JAC, though both were at loggerheads for over a year. The advocate general (AG) appearing for the police had told the court that the JAC had a history of creating violence during the Telangana agitation.
The AG’s argument that Kodandaram and the Left wing elements in the JAC were responsible for the large scale violence at Neckalace Road, close to the pres- ent rally venue, during the “Million March” protest in February 2011, had burnt all the bridges between the TRS and the JAC. The AG had also told the court that Kodandaram had as many as 73 criminal cases against him during the statehood stir.
Kodandaram told The Sunday Guardian on Friday: “In fact, CM KCR was an accused along with me in almost all the cases foisted on us by the then Congress government in the combined AP. By mentioning the same cases, this TRS government has done immense harm to the cause of Telangana.”
Other JAC functionaries S. Prabhakar Reddy and K. Raghu, too, told this newspaper that the TRS government was not ready to allow democratic and peaceful protests by people on various issues. “It is not possible to express our dissent or protest on a host of issues and we are forced to fight the ruling party at a political level; thus there is the need for a party,” Prabhakar Reddy told this newspaper.
However, senior TRS leader and Telangana Home Minister Naini Narasimha Reddy refuted the charges made by Kodandaram and other JAC leaders. “It is not correct to say that the government has not allowed permission to the rally. The HC has suggested three or four places to the JAC, but they refused to abide by the law and insisted on breaching prohibitory orders at Indira Park,” Reddy told this newspaper.
Palla Rajeswar Reddy, another TRS legislator and government whip in the Legislative Council, said that “Kodandaram had become a tool in the hands of Congress which is trying to destabilise the KCR government through the back door.”
“We are not scared of Kodandaram or his JAC and we are ready to face them anytime as people are with us,” said Rajeswar Reddy.