TIRUPATI: Hundreds of landless poor jointly led by activists of the CPI(M) and the CPI made an abortive bid to occupy a 70-acre chunk of Government land near Renigunta here on Monday.

On the second day of the `land struggle' being organised by the Left parties at Hyderabad and Tirupati, the group carrying party flags tried to troop into the site and plant poles to erect huts. They put up strong resistance when policemen deployed at the site tried to push them back. With the agitationists unrelenting, police used mild force and took into custody four party cadres. They took them away to the Renigunta police station in a waiting police van. However, the police were forced to release them when about 500 activists gathered in front of the police station and raised slogans demanding that the four cadres be released immediately.

District CPI (M) secretary K. Murali said the struggle would go on undeterred by the police action and claimed that there was a groundswell of support for the `land struggle' from the poor and the landless. Their voluntary participation in the struggle reflected their growing frustration over the State Government backtracking on its election promise to provide house sites for the landless.

166 arrested

Hyderabad Staff Reporter adds: Hundreds of activists of the Left parties continued to occupy Government lands in capital. Over 166 party workers were arrested.

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