The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Left parties take out protest march

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Wednesday, Mar 12, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Left parties take out protest march

BJP leaders also take out rally, say they are ready to face any probe

Police have a tough time in controlling the activists
RSS demands
high-level probe into the incident

Photo: Mohd. Yousuf

United fight: Legislators of the Left parties taking out a protest march in Hyderabad on Tuesday. -

HYDERABAD: The attack on Sundarayya Vignana Kendram (SVK) by unidentified persons, allegedly affiliated to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on Monday night took a political turn with the Left parties and the BJP organising separate protests.

Police had a tough time in controlling the activists of the two parties when they tried to march towards the Assembly while it was in session.

Hundreds of activists of the Left parties and the BJP along with their leaders were bundled into police vehicles at Narayanaguda and Indira Park respectively as they tried to surge forward.

CPI (M) State secretary B.V. Raghavulu, his CPI counterpart K. Narayana and BJP State president B. Dattatreya, were among those taken into custody.

Heated arguments ensued between the police and the agitating leaders and at one stage, the surging activists jostled with the police.

‘Intelligence failure’

The Left parties raised a furore in the House demanding a debate, but allowed business to continue after Home Minister K. Jana Reddy assured severe action against the culprits.

CPI (M) floor leader N. Narsimhaiah attributed the attack to the “failure” of the Intelligence wing that did not take into cognizance similar incidents that took place in New Delhi, Kerala and other places.

The BJP leaders decried the efforts to “unnecessarily” drag their party into the incident and expressed willingness to face any probe.

Even as BJP MLA G. Kishan Reddy claimed that CPI (M) activists were behind the attack, Mr. Dattatreya said they would handle all such ‘anti-national forces’ once they return to power at the Centre.

‘We respect parties’

Mr. Dattatreya reiterated the party’s commitment to respect individuality, ideology and policies of all political parties.

Refuting charges on the party’s involvement in the attack, he told reporters that the BJP was cultured enough to ensure that it would not hurt the sentiments of people by insulting a personality like Putchalapalli Sundaraiah. “We have worked together with him earlier”, he said.

In a statement, the RSS Andhra Pradesh Paschim unit had condemned the CPI (M)’s efforts to ‘mask its wrongdoings’ in Kerala by orchestrating incidents like the one happened at SVK and demanded that a high level inquiry be ordered to bring out the facts.

RSS clarifies

Meanwhile, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has asserted that it has “absolutely no connection” with the attack on Sundarayya Vignana Kendram on Monday night and expressed concern over efforts to “drag” it into an “unrelated” incident.

In a statement, RSS Andhra Pradesh Paschim Prant Sangh Chaalak P. Venkateswar Rao condemned CPI(M) leaders for “twisting the realities” and demanded that a high-level inquiry be ordered into the incident to bring out the facts.

Narrating the sequence of events, he said it was, in fact, the CPI(M) activists who disturbed the meeting of an educational institution.

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