Beating a hasty retreat: Army shuts the gates of Parade Grounds in Hyderabad for netas

HYDERABAD: On the face of it, everything seems ready. Hundreds of loudspeakers have already been procured and banners and leaflets neatly stacked up at the party office. But will Rahul baba eventually come to town for his fans to get a dekko? Congressmen aren’t sure. Thanks to the Army that’s shut the gates of the sprawling Parade Grounds right on the face of the local netas.
“We had plans to invite Rahulji (Gandhi) to conduct a public meeting in the city, but we have tried and failed to get an open space for it,” said Dasoju Sravan, the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson, admitting to the Army flatly refusing them permission to ‘lease’ the grounds. “They want it for military drills it seems,” the Congress leader added.
Now, the crestfallen local wing of the party has conceded to doing a road show, in case the national vice-president decides to fly into mana sheher. “As time is running out, we can only do road shows now, because there are no grounds. We are not even sure if Rahulji will come now,” Sravan said.
But looks like they aren’t the only ones complaining. The out-of-bounds Parade Grounds, sitting comfortably in the lap of the twin city, Secunderabad, has added to the woes of other parties too, many of them seen queuing up outside the Army headquarters, desperate to get permission to hold at least one public meeting before Telangana goes to polls on April 30.
The authorities, however, are unrelenting. “We are not giving permission to political parties as they litter the area and also dig up the ground, which is meant purely for training of military personnel,” A V Dharma Reddy, the defence estates offi ce, AP Circle, told TOI. He added that the usage of the ground had now been restricted only to important events like Independence Day and Republic Day celebrations. Other requests, either for the Parade or Gymkhana Grounds (also under the Army’s purview), Reddy categorically stated, aren’t being entertained.
If that’s not all, even the Nizam’s Ground precincts are now out of bounds for political parties, courtesy the Election Commission’s diktat that forbids them from using educational institutions for public meetings.
“We had grand plans to conduct a rally in Hyderabad and Secunderabad, but the lack of grounds have put paid to our plans,” said Ramakrishna Raju, AAP chief, echoing the sentiment of other parties too. Turns out that the Aam Aadmi Party wanted to conduct a public rally with activist Medha Patkar, but had to eventually modify its plans and settle for a road show instead.
Even BJP prime ministerial aspirant Narendra Modi, expected to touchdown in Hyderabad shortly, might have to opt for a similar alternate given that the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP), which manages the Lal Bahadur Shastri stadium, too is considering following in the footsteps of the Army. The BJP was hoping to zero in on the stadium as the venue, where the YSRCP last conducted a rally on October 26.
In fact, sources say that the state BJP chief, G Kishan Reddy has even approached SAAP and the local police to secure permission for conducting the public meeting (slated for April 22). A fi nal decision, however, is expected to be taken by the district election offi cer and GHMC commissioner Somesh Kumar.
But even if the BJP is eventually allowed to go ahead with the rally, they might not get the entire stadium due to ongoing ground repairs. About 40,000 people can be seated in the galleries at one time while there is another 30,000 seats in the pitch area.