Congress activists' march to Pragati Bhavan foiled

Ameenpur: The police made preventive arrests/house arrests of over 100 Congress leaders/activists in Patancheru constituency to avert their march to Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's official residence 'Pragati Bhavan' to protest against the government failure to hold talks with the RTC-JAC for ending the strike, which entered the 17th day on Monday.

In Ameenpur, Medak Parlilament in-charge Anil Kumar was detained in his house, as he was about to take off for the rally. In Patancheru police station limits, 10 leaders were arrested by Gummadidala police, while 20 were arrested by Ramachandrapuram police.

In Isnapur, party leader Gaddam Srisailam was confined to house arrest. In Jinnaram police limits, 30 leaders and activists were detained, while in Bollaram six. The BDL-Bhanur police took into custody 18 leaders/activists.

In five mandals of the constituency, the police made advance arrest of the Congress leaders, while they were arrested en route to Pragati Bhavan. The Congress leaders told the media that their rallies were intended to be an eye-opener for KCR's who allegedly sacked 48,000 RTC striking employees.

They alleged that the police had detained them en route and shifted to various police stations, as was done during the separate Telangana agitation. While calling upon activists of various political parties to come on a single platform, the leaders warned of intensifying the agitation.