ON THE WARPATH: TDP leaders and activists staging a dharna at Ambedkar statue in Anantapur on Monday.

ANANTAPUR: The district unit of the Telugu Desam Party on Monday staged a dharna at the Ambedkar statue here, in front of the Zilla Parishad office complex, in protest against booking of criminal cases against five party legislators by the State Government on the charges of producing fake papers in the Assembly on the Yellampalli project.

Polit bureau member of the party and former MP K. Srinivasulu said that such coercive attitude by the Government would not cow down the Opposition from exposing largescale corruption in irrigation projects.

He said it was against established parliamentary practice and unprecedented as nowhere in the independent history of the country such cases were booked against the Opposition legislators.

He alleged that the Government had foisted the cases against the TDP legislators only to harass the Opposition - fearing that it might expose more scandals in irrigation projects. However, such meek attempts would not stop the TDP from unveiling the corruption, he said.

The TDP had never said that the papers presented by its legislators in the Assembly were original. Party president N. Chandrababu Naidu had only said that if the papers produced by his party were fake, the Government should produce the original ones in the Assembly.

Legislator P. Sunita, former ministers N. Kistappa and P. Samathakamani, former MPs K.M. Saifullah and B.K. Parthasarathi, TDP district president V. Hanumantharaya Chowdary, C. Obi Reddy, S. Suryanarayana and others participated.

Party to move court

KADAPA: Party activists staged a dharna before Ambedkar statue near Kadapa RTC bus stand demanding an unconditional apology by Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy and withdrawal of the cases. The party will move courts against filing of criminal cases, TDP leaders asserted on Monday.

The Government subverted the Constitution by filing cases on an issue raised in Assembly, which had no precedent even during the 1977 emergency, TDP polit bureau member K. Sivananda Reddy and district TDP president R. Ramesh Kumar Reddy alleged.

They wondered how cases were filed on a complaint by an irrigation official, without the knowledge of Assembly Speaker K.R. Suresh Reddy.

Government and courts could not intervene on issues raised in Assembly and issue of alleged forged documents ought to have been referred to the Speaker, they asserted.

They alleged attempts to stifle Opposition from exposing misdeeds and opposing anti-people decisions. Party leaders G. Lakshmi Reddy, M. Linga Reddy, Redyam Venkatasubba Reddy, M. Venkataswamy, B. Hanmanthu and Balakrishna Yadav also spoke.

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