There was no let up in the protests against the bungling in Inter results as the Congress party stepped up its offensive against the government on Thursday.
The day witnessed Youth Congress State president Anil Kumar Yadav and NSUI chief Balamuri Venkat launching 48-hour fast at Gandhi Bhavan, the party headquarters here. Congress Kisan Kheth cell chief M. Kodanda Reddy inaugurated the fast camp amid a large number of YC and NSUI cadres.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Kodanda Reddy demanded that the government make public the answer scripts of the students and not merely carry out free re-verification.
Mr. Anil Kumar Yadav lamented that the government was behaving in a very inhuman manner while dealing with the goof up issue. He questioned the rationale behind giving the re-verification work to Globarena, the IT firm under cloud. Mr. Venkat warned that the NSUI cadres would not hesitate to gherao the TRS leaders in the near future if justice was not done to the students.
Candlelight vigil
Later in the evening, all party leaders including those from the Congress managed to reach Tank Bund to hold a candlelight vigil in memory of the students who committed suicide recently. However, the police arrested former APCC chief Ponnala Lakshmaiah and Mahila Congress leaders Indira Shobana and Sunita Rao.
Mr. Lakshmaiah arrest of the protesting leaders was unfortunate. TPCC working president Ponnam Prabhakar, former Congress MP Anjan Kumar Yadav and CPI State Secretary Chada Venkat Reddy paid tributes to the statue of Maqdoom Mohiuddin.
Mr. Ponnam Prabhakar demanded judicial probe into the result fiasco. Mr. Venkat Reddy regretted that the TRS leaders failed to call on even one family of the deceased students.
TPCC working president Kusum Kumar appealed to the students not to resort to suicide.
Revanth hits out at KTR
TPCC working president A.Revanth Reddy on Thursday at a press conference wondered the need to change the government run agency that had efficiently done the IT solutions work for the Intermediate Board. He stuck to his allegation that Globarena got the BIE contract when K.T.Rama Rao was the IT Minister.
He came down heavily on the TRS leaders for not bothering to wipe the tears of the families of the students, who had committed suicide. He took exception to the use of objectionable language by a TRS MLA against Congress leader V. Hanumantha Rao. He dared KTR to come for an open debate any place the latter decides.