By IANS
Hyderabad : In a dramatic twist to the ongoing land agitation by Left parties in Andhra Pradesh, state secretary of Communist Party of India (CPI) and 16 other leaders were sent to judicial custody for allegedly assaulting government employee who were demolishing huts.
K. Narayana, the top leader of CPI in the state, and 16 others were produced before a court in Jangareddy Guda in West Godavari district Thursday. The court sent them to judicial custody till July 19. The leaders were then shifted to Rajhamundry central jail.
The arrest sparked spontaneous protests by CPI cadres, leading to tension in parts of the coastal district.
The CPI leaders were arrested Wednesday when they prevented officials of revenue and endowments departments from demolishing huts on a government-owned plot at Rajavaram village in Koyyalagundem mandal. Police said about 50 poor families, with the backing of the CPI, had encroached upon a 2.3-acre plot that belonged to the endowments department.
Trouble began when the officials, armed with a court order, began demolishing the huts. CPI leaders protested and tried to prevent the demolition. Narayana allegedly caught revenue official S. Tirupathi Rao by his collar and pushed him. On a complaint by Rao, police arrested Narayana and others and registered cases against them.
The incident is likely to widen the differences between the ruling Congress party and its ally CPI. It came at a time when the CPI and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), which has already distanced itself from the ruling party, have intensified 'bhuporatam' or land agitation.
Demanding land where the poor can build homes, activists of both communist parties have been encroaching upon government plots across the state. They are leading hundreds of poor families who are erecting temporary huts on these plots. The agitation has led to clashes at several places in the last three months.
Two days ago, the Left parties had rejected an appeal by the government to call off their agitation.