'No police permission for pro-Telangana march'

Hyderabad police Saturday said there was no permission for June 14 'chalo assembly' by pro-Telangana groups while the organisers vowed to go ahead with the march to press the demand for separate statehood to Telangana.

Police Commissioner Anurag Sharma told reporters that action would be taken against those who try to violate the law.

After a meeting with Speaker N. Mamohar to review the security arrangements for the second phase of the Andhra Pradesh assembly's budget session beginning Monday, the police chief said nobody approached police for permission.

He pointed out that in the past permission was not given for such programmes.

Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC), comprising Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and other parties and groups fighting for separate state, has called for 'chalo assembly' June 14 to demand the centre to immediately carve out a Telangana state.

JAC convenor M. Kodandaram Saturday released wall posters for the march. He made it clear that the march would be held at any cost and warned that if there is violence the government would be responsible for it.

Kodandaram said in the past then home minister Sabitha Indra Reddy used to get permission from the government for such protests but since the home portfolio was now with Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, there was no use of approaching him.

TRS leader E. Rajender alleged that the government had hatched a conspiracy to foil the 'chalo assembly'.

He said the JAC would go ahead with its plans to conduct the programme in a democratic manner.

The TRS has called upon people to participate in the protest in lakhs. "We appeal to every household in Telangana to send at least one person for chalo assembly," he said,