Hyderabad: Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Saturday asked DGP M. Mahender Reddy and Hyderabad police commissioner Anjani Kumar whether the Covid-19 restrictions were applicable only for Opposition parties.
Condemning the state police for placing several Congress leaders under house arrest and taking other leaders into custody across the state, he asked the DGP to clarify why only Opposition leaders were being denied permission to visit irrigation projects on the Godavari river.
He was addressing a press conference along with TPCC vice-president Dr Mallu Ravi, former minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir, Sangareddy MLA T. Jayaprakash ‘Jagga’ Reddy and other leaders, at his residence in Banjara Hills.
Accusing the police of acting in a partisan manner, he announced that the Congress would take up the issue with the Governor and the Centre besides approaching the High Court.
Uttam Kumar Reddy alleged that a few police officials were acting at the behest of the TRS and they had transformed themselves from IPS (Indian Police Service) to KPS (Kalvakuntala Private Sainyam).
He alleged while nearly 90-95 per cent officials were working honestly, a few of them had been acting as agents of the TRS and misusing their position to suppress the voice of Congress leaders.
The TPCC president strongly condemned Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao for not doing anything to complete the pending projects. He said that even after the completion of six years in power, the TRS government had not completed 33 irrigation projects which were under construction since June 2014, when the state was formed.
He said the Congress had launched an agitation on June 2 seeking immediate completion of the pending projects, but the police foiled the plan by placing all senior leaders, including him under house arrest.
He said the Congress leaders were not allowed to visit the projects although they followed all the Covid-19 guidelines.
The TPCC chief alleged that the TRS government was wasting lakhs of crores of public money in the name of irrigation projects only to get 8 per cent commission and kickbacks. He said that the voice of the Congress was being suppressed so as to prevent it from exposing the huge corruption and irregularities.
He said the DGP had not replied to his open letter of Friday, wherein he sought an explanation for the arrest of the Congress leaders. He said Hyderabad police commissioner Anjani Kumar had been contending that the Union home minister had issued a notification restricting all kinds of gatherings, including political meetings. Why was the notification was not applied to the Chief Minister, ministers and other TRS leaders, Uttam Kumar Reddy asked.
Shabbir Ali urged Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan to invoke Section 8 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act and summon the DGP and other officials and seek an explanation on the Covid-19 situation.
Later in the evening, Uttam Kumar Reddy and other Congress leaders met the Governor and complained against the alleged partisan attitude of the state police. They submitted a memorandum to the Governor explaining the instances wherein police placed the Congress leaders under house arrest. They sought Dr Tamilisai’s intervention to save democracy in the state.
