Naidu Recollects Dharmabad Horror

Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday lambasted Chief Minister K Rosaiah for 'lacking commitment' on the Babli issue while he and his team were being treated like 'animals' by the Maharashtra government.

Talking to media persons in front of the Gandhi Statue in the assembly premises, Naidu said that the Congress was trying to politicise the Babli issue by accusing the TDP of being engaged in a 'drama'.

The former chief minister said that the TDP had been fighting since the last 6 years on the issue and it was in no way connected to the upcoming by-elections to the 12 assembly constituencies in the Telangana region.

Naidu further said that he had declared umpteen times that the TDP would withdraw its candidates from the polls if the Congress promises immediate and concrete action on the issue.

The TDP chief said that his party had raised the Babli issue since the threat of the Sriramsagar project becoming redundant has turned very real.

Naidu arrived at the Assembly premises and observed a 2-minute silence for the people who had reportedly committed suicide after being anguished over his arrest by the Maharashtra police. He then offered floral tributes at the Gandhi statue.

Describing the way he was detained by the Maharashtra police, the TDP chief said that he and his team were arrested within the borders of Andhra Pradesh.

He said that a posse of policemen met the team inside Andhra borders and told them that they would be taken to the site of the Babli project. He added that the TDP team believed the policemen and readily agreed to go along.

The Maharashtra police then deceived the team by taking them to the Dharmabad ITI, where they were lodged in inhuman conditions.

He said that the room that the legislators were lodged in was unswept and infested with mosquitoes and cockroaches. The TDP chief further said that the Maharashtra authorities kept disconnecting power to the room frequently, as many as 5 times each night, making sleep almost impossible. There were no chairs or mattresses in the room either, he said.

The TDP chief said the police did not tell them under what sections they were arrested. Naidu also said that the magistrate who offered them bail refused to listen to the TDP team's version of events, and only heard one side of the story.

Naidu said that when senior leaders Ashok Gajapati Raju and Abdul Ghani fell ill during their detention period, the authorities did not allow them any access to doctors. Apparently, the TDP team even offered to pay the doctor's fee but the authorities did not relent.

When the legislators protested over this, they were beaten up with shoes and gun-butts, Naidu said.

Naidu further alleged that the women legislators were being forcibly herded like animals, into a bus to be taken to Aurangabad, and were abused in the foulest language imaginable by women police personnel.

Naidu said he had not been treated like this in his 32 years of public life. He further added that tears had welled up in his eyes many times during the 5-day detention period on seeing the inhuman treatment meted out to his team.

Courtesy: INN