Police Foil Congress' Chalo Raj Bhavan Rally

The Hyderabad police today foiled the Congress' attempt to stage a Chalo Raj Bhavan rall when they refused to grant the party permission to hold the demonstration. Besides this, they arrested several party leaders at their residences and did not allow them to take part in the protest.

The police did, however, allow the Congress to hold a protest at the Indira Park with just 200 activists.

However, despite these attempts, some party workers and leaders still managed to reach the Raj Bhavan. There, they staged a protest demanding that the Centre take steps to arrest the rise in the prices of fuel and LPG. They also locked the main gate of the Raj Bhavan as part of their protest.

Speaking on the matter, TPCC Vice-President Mallu Ravi condemned the arrests, and termed the action "undemocratic". He also expressed his anger over the arrests of party activists from other districts in the state.

Former TPCC head Ponnala Lakshmaiah also expressed displeasure at the police. He then alleged that both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao were "twin thieves" who were "looting" the public, and went on to accuse CM KCR of supporting the PM by arresting protestors and dissenters. He asked KCR why the TRS was not raising the issue of the fuel price hike in Parliament.

MLA Seethakka too said that the steep fuel price increases were impacting the lives of the poor of the state. She also claimed that the government had no control over the prices of essential commodities and that, on top of this, both the Centre and the state government were using taxes to "loot" the public.

Another MLA, T Jagga Reddy, thundered that it was absurd that the Congress needed police permission to hold protests on public problems when the same police force was often allowing TRS leaders to hold meetings with thousands of people. He added that some police officers were "working only to suppress" the Congress and its leaders.