Hours before the Congress party’s ‘Telangana Jana Garjana’ public meeting to be held in Khammam late this afternoon, former Khammam MP Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy has alleged that the ruling BRS was grossly misusing power to stop people from attending the public meeting in a desperate bid to foil it.
Mr. Reddy is all set to join the Congress party along with another expelled BRS leader and former Minister Jupalli Krishna Rao and others in the presence of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at the public meeting.
The meet is being organised to mark the conclusion of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka’s 109-day State-wide padayatra that covered 1,360 k.m. in 17 districts and 36 constituencies across the State.
Speaking to the media at his residence in Khammam this morning, Mr. Srinivas Reddy reiterated his charge that the ruling BRS dispensation was misusing official machinery to foil the public meeting.
“Private vehicles heading to Khammam are being stopped at various stretches including Enkoor, Sujathanagar and Madhira by putting police barricades,” he charged, alleging that more than 1600 private vehicles were seized in blatant misuse of power in various parts of the old undivided Khammam district.
He said people unfazed by the “curbs” and “intimidating tactics” will reach Khammam like ‘foot soldiers’ and make the public meeting a mega success.
Meanwhile, the public meeting venue on a sprawling 40 acres at SR Gardens function hall on the outskirts of Khammam is decorated with festoons and the Congress party’s flags and banners.