Police foil Congress’ march to Telangana Assembly

Hyderabad, Oct 27 (IANS) The police on Friday foiled an attempt by the main opposition Congress to lay siege to the Telangana State Legislative Assembly on the first day of the winter session to demand protection of the interests of farmers.

Police detained hundreds of Congress workers coming to the city from the surrounding districts.

Tension prevailed near the Assembly as Congress leaders and workers tried to advance towards the building to lodge their protest against the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government for what they call its failures to come to the rescue of distressed farmers.

A large number of protesters led by state Congress chief Uttam Kumar Reddy began a 'chalo Assembly' march from the party headquarters Gandhi Bhavan. Carrying party flags and raising anti-government slogans, they tried to proceed towards the Assembly but were stopped by the police. There was heated argument between two sides.

As the protesters refused to budge, police personnel physically lifted them to the waiting vehicles and shifted them to another place.

Congress leader Uttam Kumar Reddy slammed the TRS government for arresting peaceful protesters. He alleged that the government was adopting an undemocratic attitude towards protests by the opposition.

He said farmers were committing suicides as they were not getting Minimum Support Price (MSP) but the government was indifferent to their problems.

He said Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had failed to honour the promises made on the floor of the House. He asked the government to fulfil the promise to pay interest that got accumulated on farm loans due to faulty implementation of the crop loan waiver scheme. He said crop loan waiver did not benefit the farmers and they were "still suffering".

He claimed that during the last three years more than 3,500 farmers committed suicide under the TRS regime and most of them were cotton farmers.

Meanwhile, the farmers' issue rocked the Assembly on the first day. As soon as the session began, the opposition parties demanded that it be taken up for debate by suspending the question hour.

However, Deputy Speaker Padma Devender Reddy, who was in the chair, went ahead with the question hour and rejected the adjournment motions moved by Congress, BJP and other opposition parties.

The legislators of opposition parties continued their protest during the question hour. The Deputy Speaker later adjourned the House till Monday.

The ruling party has hit back at the Congress for trying to stall the House and for creating trouble outside the House. Industries Minister K.T. Rama Rao said the government was ready for debate on any issue but the Congress party was only keen in stalling the proceedings.

Rama Rao said though the Congress party had demanded only a 20-day session, the government was ready for a 50-day session so that the House could discuss all issues.