Tension prevailed at the Secretariat on Wednesday when a large number of activists of the Left parties attempted to gatecrash into the seat of State administration as a part of “Chalo Assembly” program in protest against hike in power surcharge.
Taking the police by surprise, some protestors rushed towards the Secretariat from the side of Lumbini Park. However, the alert police frustrated their attempts, took them into custody and whisked them away in a police van. The incident has taken place just a couple of minutes before the Chief Minister’s convoy reached the Secretariat. The unexpected incident put the police on tenterhooks.
The police arrested CPI State secretary Dr K Narayana, who came in a rally, at the Telugu Talli flyover. They also arrested CPI (M) State secretary B V Raghavulu and former MP Madhu and the agitators when they tried to march towards the Secretariat from the Liberty crossroads side. The police shifted Dr Narayana to Gandhi Nagar police station and Raghavulu to the Abids police station.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Narayana and Raghavulu said that Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy remained adamant and took the power surcharge hike as prestige issue instead of solve the people’s burning problem. They also made it clear that the ten Left parties would continue the agitation till the State government withdrew the power surcharge hike unconditionally.
On the other hand, the police has tightened the security around the Secretariat and deployed three companies of police personnel. The City Traffic police also enforced restriction from 8 am.
–NSS