Chiru protests at APIIC office, held violating orders

Police on Monday took Praja Rajayam Party president K Chiranjeevi and other party leaders in custody for defying its orders and going ahead with a protest outside the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) office at Basheer Bagh.

The PRP chief, along with his party members were protesting to press their demands of a Central Bureau of Investigation probe in to the irregularities in allotment of prime property by the APIIC to individuals and companies. He also demanded that the government return the lands acquired from the farmers and alter allotted by the APIIC to unscrupulous land sharks. The PRP chief said that the government must release a ‘White Paper’ on the deals which took place by the APIIC during the past six years.

Mr Chiranjeevi also condemned the attack by activists of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and Bharatiya Janata Party on the convoy of Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu earlier in the day.

Police had denied the PRP permission to hold the dharna on apprehension of the protestors being attacked by the Telangana Students Joint Action Committee activists.

The TSJAC activists are at loggerheads with the PRP chief following the recent controversy over the title of the actor-turned-politician’s comments against pro-Telangana activists. Mr Chiranjeevi had lambasted against the Telangana protagonists after their threatened to disrupt his brother and actor Pawan Kalyan’s film ‘Komaram Puli’.

Mr Chiranjeevi had on Monday gone ahead with his dharna despite the police warning, saying that he would not be cowed down by the TSJAC.

The PRP chief told the protesters that the APIIC had thrown the rule book away and allotted thousands of acres of prime land to unscrupulous real estate businessmen and industrial houses.

Mr Chiranjeevi pointed out to the APIIC-Emaar Properties deal and alleged that this had caused a loss of thousands of crore of rupees to the state.

Calling for a CBI probe into the matter, the PRP chief demanded that the government take all steps to find out the truth and register cases against all those found to be involved in the scam.

Mr Chiranjeevi, along with his party leaders P Ramachandraiah, DT Naik, P Veda Vyas and other activists then tried to enter in the APIIC office building when they were arrested by the police and shifted to Goshamahal police station.