BRS leaders placed under house arrest ahead of protest
Hyderabad (The Uttam Hindu): Top leaders of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) were on Friday placed under house arrest in Hyderabad ahead of their planned protest against the arrests of MLAs and other leaders. Member of Legislative Council K. Kavitha and former minister T. Harish Rao were among the leaders placed under house arrest. The opposition party had given a call for the protest at the 125-feet statue of Dr B. R. Ambedkar near the State Secretariat to condemn what it calls illegal arrests of its leaders. In view of the protest call, the police went on alert. Police personnel were deployed outside the houses of key leaders to prevent them from leaving for the protest.
Quthbullapur MLA K. P. Vivekanand was placed under house arrest at Kompally. Kukatpally MLA Madharam Krishna Rao was also kept under house arrest. At Dundigal Mandal in Medchal Malkajgiri district, police placed Shambipur Raju under house arrest. Similarly, Korutla MLA Sanjay and R. S. Praveen Kumar have also been placed under house arrest. Huzurabad MLA Padi Kaushik Reddy, arrested on Thursday and granted bail late at night, was also under house arrest.
The Police also tightened security at BRS headquarters Telangana Bhavan to stop any rally at the protest venue. The BRS has accused the Congress government of resorting to undemocratic measures by arresting its MLAs and other public representatives. The police had Thursday arrested Kaushik Reddy for allegedly threatening a police officer.
He was booked on Wednesday for threatening a Station House Officer at Banjara Hills Police Station. Former ministers Harish Rao, Jagadish Reddy, MLA K. Prabhakar Rao, Shambipur Raju and other BRS leaders were also arrested when they arrived at Kaushik Reddy's house to meet him. They were taken to different police stations in the city and kept in detention till evening. Meanwhile, Harish Rao has condemned the arrests of party leaders and workers across the state.
The BRS leader questioned the house arrests and detentions of the party leaders when they were going to Dr Ambedkar's statue to pay tributes to the architect of the Indian Constitution on his death anniversary. Harish Rao said the Congress government has imposed an "undeclared emergency" in the state even while claiming to be celebrating the first year of people's rule. The BRS leaders said the arrests prove the "dictatorial and autocratic" style of the government. He demanded the immediate release of all BRS leaders and workers.
