Protests against Krishna river pending projects: Telangana Congress leaders arrested

HYDERABAD: Scores of Congress leaders and party members were kept under house arrest at various places in Telangana on Tuesday in order to stop them from going to the sites of pending irrigation projects on Krishna river.
The Congress said that chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao-led TRS government has turned the auspicious Telangana state formation day into a “black day” by its dictatorial attitude and crushing the voice of the main opposition party which had planned to hold protests in a democratic manner.
In a series of agitations beginning on June 2 coinciding with the Telangana state formation day, the Congress planned to showcase the failures of K Chandrasekhar Rao-led TRS government on irrigation, agriculture and other sectors in the last six years.
The plan was that the top Congress leaders in the state will hoist the national flag at party offices at the state level and districts marking Telangana State Formation day and then would pay homage to martyrs on June 2 while reiterating their indebtedness to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi for granting statehood to Telangana. Subsequently, they would head towards irrigation project sites on Krishna river which have been pending since June 2, 2014, and stage a dharna there.
TPCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy who hoisted the national flag at Gandhi Bhavan on Tuesday termed the TRS-government’s six-year rule as “dictatorial” and charged the chief minister of allowing Andhra Pradesh state chief minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy to draw additional quantities of water from Krishna river, at the cost of water interests of Telangana.
Uttam condemned the arrests and said the people of Telangana are watching how the KCR-government is suppressing the voice of the main opposition party. "KCR-led TRS has failed to fulfil the aspirations of the people of Telangana on all the three fronts of Neellu, Nidhulu and Niamakalu (water, funds and jobs). These are the three main planks on which statehood agitation was fought,” he said.
Former minister Mohd Ali Shabbir said the KCR-government has unleashed the police power to crush the voice of the opposition and turned the auspicious Telangana State formation day into a “black day.”
Among the top Congress leaders taken into police custody or placed under house arrest include TPCC working president and Malkajgiri MP A Revanth Reddy, Bhuvanagiri MP Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, former minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah, AICC secretaries Ch Vamshichand Reddy, S A Sampath Kumar, former MP Nagam Janardhan Reddy
Agitation schedule of the Congress:
On June 2: staging dharna at sites of pending irrigation projects on Krishna river
On June 4, Uttam-led party leaders will stage a protest at Singur and Manjira projects.
On June 6, protests at irrigation project sites in Godavari basin.
On June 3, 5 and 7: Congress leaders will interact with farmers on the proposed new agricultural policy in all the district congress committee offices and in villages.