Ministers come under edible missile attack by pro-T activists

Raising pro-Telangana slogans, Telangana activists on Sunday disrupted a public meeting being attended by Union Minister for Petroleum S Jaipal Reddy and Home Minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy by hurling eggs and tomatoes at Gangirala in Nawabpeta mandal in Ranga Reddy district.

The pro-Telangana activists started their ‘bombardment’ of eggs and tomatoes after warning the two Ministers not to continue on with the meeting. They were protesting against the Ministers, both belonging to the Congress party, of having failed to make concerted efforts towards introduction of the separate Telangana statehood Bill in Parliament by mounting pressure on the Centre.

The activists let loose their flurry of edible missiles after the Ministers ignored their warnings and continued to be present on the dais.

A little earlier, the activists had warned the Ministers that they would not be allowed to travel freely in the Telangana regions till they start making sincere efforts towards the Telangana statehood cause. ‘Who has given you permission to visit the village and attend the public meeting,’ the pro-Telangana activists shouted at the two Ministers.

Sources say that the slogan-shouting, edible missiles hurling activists were backed by a section of the local Congress leaders.

The barrage of edible missiles stopped when the police stepped in the scene and entered into heated arguments with the protestors.

However, sensing that the protestors were in no mood to let the public meeting continue, resorted to lathi-charge them. Some of the protestors were also taken under custody and shifted to a nearby police station.

Meanwhile, the two Ministers managed to leave the place unscathed.

Earlier on April 11, a group of students of the Kakatiya University had obstructed Minister of Information and Technology Ponnala Lakshmaiah’s convoy and pelted it with rotten tomatoes and eggs.

The ‘unwelcome’ welcome to Mr Lakshmaiah, who was on his way to the town to offer tributes to noted social reformer Mahatma Jyotirao Phule on the occasion of his 185th birth anniversary, was part of the students’ sustained demands that the IT Minister resigns from the Cabinet to build pressure on the Centre to introduce a Bill in favour of a separate Telangana state.

According to sources, the prevalent price of tomatoes in the wholesale market at Shamshabad has come down to Re 1 per kilogram. Eggs however are slightly more expensive, with each one costing about Rs 30 a dozen.