VIJAYAWADA: With criticism of GO No. 1 in Andhra Pradesh increasing, YSR Congress legal wing too has clarified that the government order does not in any way ban rallies and processions being organised by political parties.
“Keeping in view the safety of people, the GO stipulates that with permission of the police, rallies, processions and meetings can be conducted in places where the public is not put to any risk,” party’s legal cell president M. Manohar Reddy maintained on Tuesday.
Addressing media at the YSRC central office, Manohar Reddy underlined that TD chief N. Chandrababu Naidu and Jana Sena president Pawan Kalyan are continuing to hold their meetings, supporting his contention that the GO has not imposed a blanket ban.
The legal cell president explained that panchayat and municipal roads in some places are narrow and unfit for meetings. It is such locations that caused the deaths of 11 persons in Kandukur and Guntur.
He said the GO ensures that entry and exit points of events are free, meetings are held in open areas with no high-tension wires above, and there is no interruption in the transportation of essential goods and pregnant women. He maintained that the way TD leaders are organising meetings is putting the lives of people at stake.
Manohar Reddy regretted that opposition parties are portraying the GO as though it bans rallies and public meetings altogether. “It is not right for a section of press and TV channels supporting Telugu Desam to ignore the fact that there is no ban on meetings and rallies,” he stated.
He felt that there are no huge gatherings at Naidu’s meetings in Kuppam. Hence, TD is using the video footage of Siddalinga Swami funeral procession in Karnataka to mislead the public, he alleged.
