Scores of Congress workers took to the streets here on Tuesday, vociferously condemning what they termed attempts by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leadership to encourage defections from Opposition parties.
The protesters took out a rally from the District Congress Committee (DCC) office to Dharna Chowk near the Collectorate where they staged a demonstration. Addressing the demonstrators, DCC president P. Durga Prasad alleged that the TRS was hell-bent on weakening the main Opposition — Congress — in an undemocratic manner.
The move to admit Pinapaka MLA Rega Kantha Rao and Asifabad MLA Atram Sakku, who got elected on Congress party tickets in the recent Assembly polls, into TRS amounts to brazen disregard for democratic values, he charged and demanded that the two legislators should resign as MLAs before joining the TRS.
Mild commotion
In Bhadradri-Kothagudem district, mild commotion prevailed at the mandal Congress party office in Manuguru town when the supporters of Mr Kantha Rao staged a sit-in opposing the visit of a group of Congress leaders, including the DCC president and Kothagudem MLA Vanama Venkateswara Rao, to the party office in the coal town on Tuesday afternoon.
The incident occurred when Mr Venkateshwara Rao along with Bhadrachalam MLA Podem Veeraiah and Mulugu MLA Seethakka arrived to participate in a meeting convened by local Congress leaders in response to the protest call given by the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee against alleged attempts by the TRS to “engineer defections” ahead of the MLC elections.
Tension prevailed for sometime as the demonstrators raised slogans like “Congress MLAs go back”. However, police arrived in large numbers and diffused tension by dispersing the demonstrators.
Later, talking to newsmen, Mr Venkateshwara Rao and other Congress leaders termed Mr Kantha Rao’s reported allegations against the State Congress leadership as “baseless”.