Congress cries foul over restrictions on Vijaya Bheri

Hyderabad: In what the Congress described as an act of cowardice, the police clamped heavy restrictions on Sonia Gandhi’s Vijaya Bheri on September 17.

The Rachakonda police directed meeting organisers to restrict the crowd to 10,000 when preparations were in full swing to mobilise lakhs of people.

The Congress asked police if they would dare to impose similar restrictions to Amit Shah’s public meeting on the same day at Parade Grounds or any of the Chief Minister’s meetings in the run-up to polls.

“This is a clear indication that KCR is afraid of us and lost hopes on winning. The paranoia that they are showing in restricting our meetings is unheard of,” said TPCC vice president M. Vinod Reddy.

He said the Congress applied for permission for Parade Grounds first and later LB Stadium, Gachibowli Stadium, open land ar Tukkuguda. But we were denied permission everywhere and now the restrictions, he lamented.

Restrictions included ban on drones, firecrackers and use of DJ music, and parking of vehicles on roads.

Referring to ban on firecrackers and DJs, Congress leaders asked how can such restrictions be applicable and relevant to a meeting happening more than 40 km away from the city but not for those happening in the city
attended by BRS or BJP leaders.

“Despite restrictions people will come in large numbers for the meeting to be attended by Sonia Gandhi. The meeting will be a success,” said TPCC working president Mahesh Kumar Goud.

The Congress was also of the view that BJP shifted its proposed meeting from Warangal to city only to deprive the Congress of an opportunity to hold a massive show of strength at Parade grounds.

Former TPCC president, Ponnala Lakshmaiah, said, “The way the permission is given indicates that they don’t want the meeting to succeed. It’s strange to
fix 10,000 as the limit for a national leader and they want to curtail the political parties’ freedom of speech.