The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Two ex-Ministers, TDP men held

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Thursday, Jun 14, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Two ex-Ministers, TDP men held

Special Correspondent

They were staging a ‘maha dharna’ against diversion of Godavari waters

For a cause: TDP leader Devender Goud bieng taken into custody during a TDP protest against Godavari waters being diverted to Krishna basin at the Chief Engineers office, in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

HYDERABAD: Scores of Telugu Desam Party functionaries, including former ministers T. Devender Goud and Kadiam Srihari, were arrested when they staged a ‘maha dharna’ in front of the Office of Engineer-in-Chief (Irrigation) at Errum Manzil protesting against the diversion of

Godavari waters and demanding immediate completion of irrigation projects in Telangana.

Holding banners and shouting slogans against Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the TDP workers came in a rally to the venue, ‘Jala Soudha’, disrupting traffic in the peak morning hours and squatted there.

A large posse of policemen present on the spot bundled them into waiting police vans and took them to the Goshamahal police station.

Talking to reporters before the arrest, Mr. Srihari accused the Government of behaving in a ‘dictatorial fashion’ by stopping vehicles carrying party workers from districts on the city outskirts.

He said the Chief Minister is trying to suppress the Opposition even though the party was agitating peacefully.

He charged the Government with trying to divert Godavari waters without completing various projects in Telangana.

The party was not opposed to inter-basi n transfer of waters, but wanted the projects, for which allocations have been made, to be completed before opting to divert the surplus waters.

Mr. Srihari alleged that the Government was doing ‘injustice’ to Telangana by seeking to divert Godavari waters and appealed to contractors not to take up works of Dummagudem-Sagar tail pond, as it was a controversial project. He warned that the party, if returned to power in 2009, would review the Government’s decision on the project.

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