TPCC leaders allege restrictions for Rahul Gandhi meeting, Khammam police rubbish claims

KHAMMAM: The Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) made elaborate arrangements for its national leader Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Telangana Jana Garjana’ public meeting in Khammam on Sunday evening. Several leaders of the party claimed that people flocking to the meeting were being restricted even as the Khammam police denied the accusations and asked the public not to give into misinformation on this.

On the other hand, wishing the TPCC a grand success in organising the event, AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge claimed that the 3.8-crore people of Telangana wanted a change. He felt that the grand rally would voice their shared aspirations. Kharge also congratulated Congress Legislature Party leader Bhatti Vikramarka on the completion of his 1,360 km long Padayatra on Sunday at Khammam.

“Our blueprint for a new dawn in Telangana is ready. We are strongly committed to the development and progress of Telangana, based on social justice and equity,” Kharge said, adding that several senior leaders would be joining the party fold at the meeting.

Meanwhile, TPCC Chief A Revanth Reddy expressed anger over the alleged restrictions imposed by the police on the movement of the Congress sympathisers and brought the issue to the notice of the Director General of Police Anjani Kumar over the phone. He immediately rushed to Khammam to personally address the issue.

“The Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) Government is afraid of the growing popularity of the Congress in the State. We came to know that the local BRS leaders are threatening the Congress workers that their names would be deleted from welfare schemes. The repercussions will be severe if the officials don’t mend their ways,” Revanth said in a strongly-worded statement.

Bhuvanagiri MP Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, criticising the BRS regime for stopping people from attending the public meeting, said that several leaders were arrested in Khammam and many others were stopped at various check posts en route to Khammam. “If you stop our vehicles, we reach the venue on bikes,” he said.

Campaign Committee Chairman Madhu Yashki Goud said that the Congress, when in power, would teach a fitting lesson to the BRS. “We will pay you back in the same coin if police were misused to achieve your political ends,” he said.

Mulugu legislator Anasuya aka Seethakka urged the people of the State to strongly condemn the BRS Government’s attitude towards Rahul Gandhi, a leader from the party that granted a separate Telangana State. She told the police to remember that they were government employees and not mercenaries.

Other senior leaders like V Hanumantha Rao staged an impromptu protest resenting what he claimed as unwarranted restriction of party activists from proceeding to the public meeting venue. Another senior leader from Khammam Renuka Chowdary too vowed to break the restrictions, if the police imposed any.

Meanwhile, rubbishing the Congress party allegations, Khammam District Superintendent of Police Vishnu S Warrior asserted that no one was being stopped from going to the Rahul Gandhi public meeting. He asked the public not to be misled by the misinformation campaign being carried out in this regard. He appealed to the TPCC leaders and the activists to extend their full cooperation in following the basic rules and help the police ensure a hassle-free event.