TPCC President and MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy today announced that he would raise the issue of the
murder of lawyer couple Gattu Vaman Rao and P V Nagamani in the ongoing session of the Parliament soon.
Addressing a protest meet of advocates at the Dharna Chowk in Indira Park, Reddy strongly condemned Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for not responding to the demand for a CBI probe into the brutal attack that took place in Peddapalli on February 17.
"The CM has become so insensitive and insular that he did not even feel the need to condemn the murder of the lawyer couple. Further, the police too have not been invested in getting to the bottom of the matter since the accused persons are reportedly close to the leaders of the ruling party," he alleged.
The MP then reiterated his earlier allegations that the murders were the result of a larger conspiracy hatched by the "TRS-backed sand mafia", and that they were the result of an "attempt to hush up" the custodial death of a Dalit, Seelam Rangaiah, in the Manthani police station under the Ramagundam Police Commissionerate.
He said that the two lawyers had been eliminated to also cover up various other illegal activities being carried out by anti-social elements backed by the Telangana government, and added that the current deterioration of the law and order situation in the state was the result of the KCR government's closeness to the state's sand, property, mining and alcohol lobbies.
Reddy also slammed the BJP-led Centre for not taking up the matter at a national level, and for failing to address it with any urgency.
"If the BJP leaders in Telangana are genuinely against the TRS, then they should convince their government at the Centre to order a CBI probe into the double-murder. Of course, the BJP is currently too engrossed in a meaningless exchange of allegations with the ruling party to have the time to take up any issues of significance. This is a ploy hatched by both the parties to divert the attention of the people of the state from real problems, and a paltry attempt to hide their various failures," he charged.
The TPCC head also warned both the parties that the Congress would launch an agitation if the state government and the Centre refused to order a CBI investigation into the murders, and to ensure the protection of the other advocates in the state.
Voicing his support for the slain advocates, the leader said that the Congress had already
met Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, and had urged her to order a court-monitored CBI probe into the killings, and that he would soon raise the issue in Parliament as well.
Further, Reddy assured the advocates that he would take up their demands for the implementation of an Advocates Protection Act and for the payment of stipends to junior advocates.
"In my capacity as President of the TPCC and MP, I will fight for the lawyers' cause both inside and outside Parliament, and at the state and national levels," he added.
The MP then urged the advocates to vote in favour of the Congress candidates, G Chinna Reddy and Sabavath Ramulu Naik, contesting in the upcoming elections in the graduates' constituencies of Hyderabad-Rangareddy-Mahabubnagar and Warangal-Nalgonda-Khammam, respectively. He asked them to reject the candidates being fielded by the TRS and the BJP, citing the alleged failure of both the ruling parties to work for the welfare of the lawyer community.
Party leader G Chinna Reddy and TPCC Legal Cell Chairman Damodar Reddy were among those present at the protest.