`Jalayagnam' turns into war with Congress leaders

`Jalayagnam' programme by the Congress in Vijayawada took war-like proportions on Monday. Police lathi charged and the arrests of Congress leaders followed. The Congress leaders assembled at the Alankar theatre in the town, where speeches were made. From there, they wanted to go to the Krishna barrage as the culmination of protests against government indifference to the projects being undertaken by the Telangana government which would prove detrimental to the Andhras and turn AP into a desert. The police had already assembled in strength all over Vijaywada, Krishna barrage, Tenali and Guntur to control law and order problems. They had already stopped former Speaker of the Combined AP in Tenali, and put him under house arrest. At the Alankar cinema itself, the police tried to stop the advancing Congress leaders. On Eluru road, the police somehow managed the situation. There the police and the leaders shouted at each other. As the situation was going out of control, the police used lathis and dispersed the Congress leaders in all directions. Pradesh Congress Committee president M. Raghuveera Reddy, former Union Minister Killi Kruparani and local strongman Devineni Nehru were arrested, put in a van and taken to a police station. The leaders regretted that while they were fighting for the people causes, they were being beaten with canes and arrested. Somehow, some of the disbursed Congress leaders managed to reach the Krishna barrage, where they staged dharna. These Congress leaders smashed their way through barricades put up all over the place.