Tension prevailed in the city for a brief period today when a large number of activists of the left parties attempted to gatecrash into the state Secretariat as part of ‘chalo’Secretariat’ agitation in protest against hike in power surcharge.
The agitators rushed towards the secretariat from the side of Lumbini Park. However, an alert police foiled their attempts and took them into custody.
The police also arrested CPI Andhra Pradesh Unit Secretary K Narayana, who led the rally. They had also arrested CPI(M) politburo member B V Raghavulu and former party MP Madhu besides the agitators when they tried to march towards the Secretariat from a different direction.
The police later shifted Mr Narayana to Gandhinagar police station and Mr Raghavulu to the Abids police station.
Speaking on the occasion, the left leaders charged Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy for remaining adamant and took the power surcharge hike as prestige issue instead of solving 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. UNI