Left criticises A.P. police action

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JUNE 29. The Left parties today brought to New Delhi their month-long protest against the hike in power tariff in Andhra Pradesh vowing not to let the Chief Minister, Mr. Chandrababu Naidu, ``rest'' until the hike was rolled back.

They also attacked the State Government for ``unleashing police terror'' against the agitators not sparing ``even women and the media''. They were particularly critical of the police ``excesses'' in Vijayawada, Ongole and Armur saying that in one case, two agitators injured in police action were chained to hospital beds.

At a joint press conference here, the CPI(M) politburo member, Mr. Prakash Karat, and the CPI leaders, Mr. A.B. Bardhan and Mr. Sudhakar Reddy, demanded an immediate stop to police ``repression'' and action against the officers responsible for the ``inhuman'' attacks on women. They also wanted cases against the agitators withdrawn. Stating that the tariff was raised under pressure from the World Bank as part of its agenda of reforms in the power sector, Mr. Karat and Mr. Bardhan said the hike had particularly affected the farmers, the poor and the middle class. They dismissed the State Government's explanation that the hike was meant to make up for the huge losses in the power sector.

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