Riot, rains rattle Cyberabad

The besieged Chief Minister had to also deal with the "Chalo Assembly" power agitation by the Congress and nine Left parties in Hyderabad that turned violent with the police firing on the protestors. The man killed was identified as Satyanarayana Murthy, secretary of the Khammam district unit of CPI-ML (New Democracy). As many as 54 civilians were injured either in firing or lathicharge, while 86 police personnel were hurt in stone pelting by the agitators. The condition of ten of the injured, admitted to various hospitals in the city, was critical. CPM state unit secretary B V Raghavulu and CPI state council secretary Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy were among those injured.

Condemning the violence, Chandrababu Naidu accused the Congress and Left parties of joining hands with "extremist groups" and indulging in a "pre-planned violence and arson" in the name of the "Chalo Assembly" agitation. Naidu told reporters after the session here that the incident was a clear indication of a desperate attempt to malign his "government by creating chaos and destruction…This is first time in the history that any attempt was made to lay siege to Assembly. There is a documentary evidence of extremist groups’ involvement in the incident." Naidu lamented that the Opposition chose to "create violence" at a time when the state was reeling under the onslaught of floods and the administration was overstretched in carrying out relief and rehabilitation measures.

The trouble took place during the "Chalo Assembly" rally called by the Opposition parties demanding total rollback of the hike in electricity charges. Thousands of functionaries assembled in the morning near Babu Jagjivanram statue, half a km away from the Legislative Assembly.

All roads leading to the Assembly were barricaded and hundreds of armed policemen from almost all wings, including the anti-Naxalite Grey Hounds, were positioned to ensure that agitators did not move towards the Assembly.Activists of the Left Parties bore the burnt of the police force.

Congressmen were present in fewer numbers compared to Communists and they confined themselves to raising slogans against the government.

It started around 11.30 am when the demonstrators tried to break thepolice cordon and march towards the Assembly, which was in session. The police swung into action straightaway, but by the time they managed to disperse the huge crowd three hours later, the area virtually resembled a battle field.

As soon as they sensed trouble, the police resorted to caning and simultaneously lobbed tear gas shells. Undeterred, the agitators surged forward, pelting stones at the police.

As tension built up, police fired in the air. But the protestors refused to back down and Murthy, a Communist party activist, bared his chest and asked the police to open fire. A constable opened fire and the bullet pierced through Murthy’s chest, killing him on the spot.

The firing continued for the next 40 minutes, injuring the demonstrators. Several persons suffered injuries on their back, indicating that police fired at them even while they were fleeing.

A youth, who went to rescue his friend, fell flat when a bullet hit him on the leg. A middle-aged man, who sought police help in shifting an injured person to the hospital, was also beaten up. Another posse of policemen charged at Congress workers, dispersing them completely. While fleeing, the workers set a police vehicle on fire. After the mobs were chased away, Pradesh Congress Committee president M Satyanarayana Rao, along with a handful of Congress workers, reached Basheerbagh in vehicles. Even as the vehicles were approaching, police lobbed teargas shells on the convoy, forcing it to go back.

Meanwhile, the Congress and Left Parties’ MLAs ended their 11-day-old indefinite fast and called for a statewide bandh tomorrow to protest police "high-handedness" in dealing with Opposition activists.

The Opposition parties have demanded a judicial inquiry into the police firing and lathicharge. Opposition leaders said that however, the bandh would not be observed in the flood-affected areas.

Satyanarayana Rao said his party would give Rs one lakh ex-gratia to the kin of those killed in the police firing and demanded payment of Rs five lakh ex-gratia by the government.

But the Chief Minister has rejected a judicial inquiry into the firing, saying, "I have seen the video footage myself and it was clear that the demonstrators had come with a pre-determined purpose of creating violence. They attacked policemen without any provocation."