TIRUPATI: Defending the Tirupati urban police’s withdrawal of permission to the Telugu Desam for holding the ‘Dharma Parirakshana Yatra’ from here, SP Avula Ramesh Reddy said on Thursday that these leaders were stirring up religious hatred among people in the pilgrim city.
“People from all religions have the right to live in this society with equal rights. The TD leaders are polluting the atmosphere and creating a sense of insecurity among the people. This doesn’t make sense. We will not spare anyone coming from outside to pollute the religious harmony in this temple city,” the SP said.
Explaining to the media the spate of incidents here during the launch of the Yatra, the SP said the TD leaders obtained permission only for the Yatra in the form of a peaceful walkathon from Alipiri to Town club circle, but they attempted a huge bike and car rally and a public meeting with heavy-sound speakers.”
“On the 19th of this month, TD’s Tirupati parliamentary in-charge G. Narasimha Yadav requested us for permission for the Dharma Parirakshana Yatra on the 21st and for use of a mike-set during the walkathon. The urban police granted permission only for the foot-march with certain conditions. We denied permission for mike-sets as they didn’t follow the necessary procedure for this. They were asked to hold the foot rally peacefully with less than 100 participants due to the Covid-19 restrictions and without raising slogans. They were also asked not to disturb the traffic,” he explained.
“The TD leaders including state party chief Atchannaidu and Narasimha Yadav however planned to take out a huge bike and car rally with 300 odd party activists. They also arranged heavy sound systems and mike sets. As these would disturb the pilgrim movement here, we have withdrawn the permission for the Yatra,” he said.
The SP also said TD activists obstructed the meeting of the parliamentary committee held in a private hotel here. Leaders including Atchannaidu, Narasimha Yadav, D. Bhaskar, Munikrishna Yadav, Anand Babu, Rama Naidu, B. Sudhakar Reddy, Pulivarthi Nani and 36 others were arrested under 151 CrPc for rule violations.
