TDP MLAs manhandled by police, arrested for sitting on dharna
Police allegedly manhandled Telugu Desam Party's Parliamentary leader Nama Nageswara Rao and about 20 MLAs before arresting them when they sat on a dharna outside the Chief Minister's Office Block in Andhra Pradesh Secretariat today.
The TDP legislators reached the Secretariat to meet the Chief Minister K Rosaiah and submit a memorandum seeking immediate release of funds towards reimbursement of fee for professional students. However, the Chief Minister is not in the office, as he was indisposed and staying indoors.
As the security personnel did not let the TDP delegation enter into the CM's Office, the legislators sat on a dharna demanding the chief minister came to secretariat and receive their memorandum, as the dharna continues the security personnel tried to evict the TDP legislators, leading to an altercation between the two.
Later, the police used the force and dragged TDP leader Nageswara Rao, senior MLAs G Muddukrishnanmma Naidu, K E Prabhakar, D Narendra, R Chandrasekhara Reddy and others and bundled them into a police van. The TDP legislators strongly protested the police action and questioned why such force was being used when they were sitting on a dharna in a peaceful manner.
The police, however, remained adamant and drove away the MLAs and MP to police station, sources close to the MLA said. Earlier, the legislators told reporters that the academic career of about 34 lakh students was being pushed into jeopardy due to non-reimbursement of fees.
Though its revenues have improved by Rs 6,000 crore in the last three months, the state government was not ready to reimburse the fees, they alleged. The TDP legislators also met and discussed the fee reimbursement with their Party President N Chandrababu Naidu at the TDP Headquarters.
