HYDERABAD: Telugu Desam will not hesitate to stage a dharna, if necessary, to seek more Central funds to the State during the All-India Congress Committee president Sonia Gandhi's visit to the city for attending the AICC plenary next month.

Addressing a press conference, N. Rajakumari, party spokesperson, and Ch. Babu Ramesh, MLA, said that the party would also submit a memorandum to her.

While the Centre showed a step-motherly attitude in releasing funds, the State Government too was not pursuing the issue.

Referring to the praises showered by the AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh on the State Government's performance, they wondered if he had ever ventured out of Hyderabad to see the "so-called progress."

Roads were in a bad shape. Farmers continued to commit suicide. Crime rate had gone up. There was no safety for women and children. And when Backward Classes students demanded release of scholarship amounts, they were beaten up mercilessly by the police, they said. They charged the Government with spending crores of rupees for organising AICC plenary. But it had no money for paying scholarship to the poor and for organising `Kalachakra', a major event for Buddhists.

`Brutal lathicharge'

Mr. Babu Ramesh accused the Government of running the administration using lathi as demonstrated by what he called "brutal lathicharge" on tribals at Buttaigudem and students in Tirupati recently.

The Government wanted to go ahead with the Polavaram project and bauxite mining violating the laws protecting tribals, he alleged.

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