KHAMMAM: Congress leaders on Sunday accused Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao of instigating restrictions on private vehicles ferrying people to the Telangana Jana Garjana Sabha in Khammam, after the police stopped nearly 1,800 vehicles at checkposts under various pretexts.
While the police relented and let vehicles pass as pressure mounted at some locations, senior leader Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy said that nearly 2,000 vehicles were seized along various routes leading to Khammam.
AICC secretary and MLA D. Sridhar Babu said, “The state government is playing cheap politics by imposing restrictions on the vehicles coming to the meeting,” and alleged that the police were creating panic among the public.
He said that the police were also conducting searches at hotels to check the movement of the public to the Congress event, which was unnecessary.
While TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy brought the issue of police action to the notice of DGP Anjani Kumar, warning of an untoward incident due to illegal activities, senior leaders like legislator Seethakka, former MPs Renuka Chowdary and V. Hanumantha Rao, among others, rushed to the checkposts to stop the police action.
They alleged that the police were checking documents arbitrarily and citing discrepancies to seize vehicles.
Former SC Corporation Chairman Pidamarthy Ravi, who resigned from the BRS, told Deccan Chronicle that vehicles were stopped at multiple check posts and he travelled from Khammam to Julurphad to clear the vehicle backlog.
Congress leaders alleged that authorities imposed restrictions on private vehicles to dilute and disturb the public meeting.
Leaders, along with the party activists, staged protests on roads at check posts in various places. Congress leaders alleged that the transport authorities booked cases against owners of private vehicles, citing an increased number of passengers.
