AP: Oppn stages dharna against GO 938

Hyderabad, Feb 23: The opposition parties in the state assembly today staged a dharna at the Gandhi Statue in the assembly premises to protest the GO 938, alleging that the state government was trying to curb press freedom through it.

Leaders of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) sat before the statue with placards and raised slogans against the Government's alleged undemocratic policies and curbs on freedom of the press.

TDP President N Chandrababu Naidu sought an immediate apology from Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy for issuing the GO which endorses a check on defamatory and baseless media reports. He alleged that the Chief Minister was responsible for issuing the GO to 'blackmail the media' and it only highlighted the government's misdeeds.

He ridiculed the Chief Minister's claim that the GO was issued without his knowledge, stating that Dr Reddy was trying to mislead the public and the House by his statement.

He asked the Chief Minister to suspend the Chief Secretary if he had issued the GO without his knowldedge and also place the minutes book of the meeting before the House.

Mr Naidu demanded the constitution of a committee with all floor leaders in the House and placing the files and minutes of the meeting on the GO to ascertain true facts.

He said the opposition in the state would unitedly fight against the ''undemocratic policies'' of the State Government and ''dictatorial'' attitude of the Chief Minister.

UNI