Strongly protesting obstruction of TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu’s dharna against liquor syndicates in Vizianagaram on Tuesday, Leader of Opposition in the Council Dadi Veerabhadra Rao has demanded that Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy either apologise to the people or take action against his cabinet colleague and PCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana for taking law into his hands.
In a letter to the Chief Minister today, Dadi has questioned how the democratic right of the Leader of Opposition to agitate on people’s problems could be curbed. He said the government, instead of taking action against those who had violated law, resorted to a counter dharna. It was shameful that the Chief Minister had acted against the Opposition, he added.
Dadi has questioned the need for mobilizing 3,600 policemen and ordering lathi-charge, tear gas and even firing on agitators. Stating that Emergency like situation was created just to deny the Opposition of its democratic rights, Dadi said it looked as if Botcha wanted Kiran to take the blame for the situation and Kiran wanted his opponent to be blamed.
Dadi pointed out that TDP sought permission for dharna on April 21, but it postponed it to April 23, as the ruling party had also proposed dharna on the same day. However, the ruling party postponed its dharna to April 23, only with a view to obstruct the democratic rights of the Opposition to protest. He protested against obstruction of the convoy of Naidu, imposition of prohibitory orders and creating a situation where party senior leader Ashok Gajapati Raju fainted. He also protested against denial of police permission to garland statue of late chief minister N T Rama Rao. (NSS)