T-issue: Government, Opposition lock horns on protest rally

AP government has refused to grant permision to hold the rally on security grounds

Situation in the state capital remained tense on Thursday with the Opposition parties and pro-Telangana outfits, defying prohibitory orders, going ahead with the ‘Chalo Assembly’ rally tomorrow. The Andhra Pradesh government has refused to grant permission to hold the rally on security grounds.

Political parties including TDP, BJP and the CPI pledged their support to the protest rally planned by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and the Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) in support of their demand for a separate statehood to the Telangana region.

On Thursday, the city witnessed violent scenes at the Osmania University campus when the students clashed with the police in their bid to break the police barricades erected at the university entrance. Elsewhere across the region, police made preemptive arrests of leaders and activists and stopped people from reaching the city to avert the possibility of a massive gathering on Friday.

The city had witnessed a massive turnout of agitators in a protest rally held in September last year in the name of ‘Million March’ even as the police closed all the entry points into the city though formally granted permission to hold the meeting. This time around, the state government has firmly declined permission to the rally.