Ex-MLAs seek to shift furniture, Cong. cadres obstruct, claim govt ownership

Hyderabad: In the aftermath of the Congress winning the state Assembly polls, logistics staff shifting furniture from the camp office of prohibition and excise minister V. Srinivas Goud at Ravindra Bharathi on Wednesday faced stiff resistance from Congress leaders, which ensued in a tiff between groups and ended with a police complaint.

During the incident, Goud’s followers tried to take away sofas and furniture by loading them into an auto-trolley, claiming them to be theirs, but were obstructed by another group, which said that material belonged to the Telangana government and could not be taken.

Women staffers present at the scene, said that when questioned for stopping the vehicle, the group replied that they were only asking Goud’s followers not to take the furniture and computers as they belonged to the Telangana government.

The group of Congress leaders and cadres eventually lodged a complaint with the Saifabad police, requesting to look into the issue.

This, however, was not an isolated incident, with similar incidents reported in districts.

In Bodhan, followers of Shakil Amir who were shifting the furniture from the MLA camp office were stopped by the Congress activists, turning into a clash. The police intervened and dispersed the two groups with a mild lathi-charge.

The roads and buildings department is supervising the issue of furniture and said that a few leaders who lost the elections were trying to shift the furniture from their camp offices. They said that since the formation of the state, camp offices were constructed in each constituency, at a cost of Rs1 crore each, with power bills and taxes also paid by the government.

MLAs used the camp offices for conducting reviews, meetings with officials and party meetings. A few MLAs had also spent funds from the constituency development funds for extending their camp offices and adding facilities.

In the undivided Nizamabad district, all nine MLAs utilised the camp office. But since only two of the incumbents were re-elected, in Banswada and Balkonda, those who lost from Nizamabad rural, Nizamabad urban, Bodhan, Armoor, Kamareddy, Yellareddy and Jukkal camp offices are to hand over the camp office keys.

R&B officials said that only a few MLAs returned the keys.

R&B department superintendent engineer G. Rajeshwar Reddy said that they will hand over the camp offices to newly elected MLAs soon. “A few MLAs informed us that they will occupy the camp office on the auspicious day and others asked for repairs,” he said.

In the Kamareddy district, new MLAs have not yet approached the officials for occupying camp offices.