Telangana Congress chief arrested, permission denied for protest

Hyderabad, Jan 2:  Telangana Congress president A. Revanth Reddy was arrested by the police here on Monday as he was heading for a planned protest over the problems faced by sarpanches and lack of funds for panchayats.

The Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president, who was under house arrest since morning, tried to leave but was stopped by the police.

He questioned the action by the police officers and had an argument with them.

As Revanth Reddy tried to proceed towards Indira Park, he was arrested and shifted to the Bolarum police station. Congress workers staged a protest at the police station demanding his immediate release.

Reddy slammed the action of the state government in denying permission for the dharna under the aegis of Rajiv Gandhi Panchayati Raj Sangathan.

He said the government was indifferent to suicides by sarpanches.

TPCC vice-president Mallu Ravi, Jeevan Reddy and other leaders were either placed under house arrest or were arrested while proceeding to Hyderabad.

Tension also prevailed at Gandhi Bhavan, the TPCC headquarters, as Congress leaders were stopped by the police by locking the gates. Some leaders and workers tried to leave the premises by climbing the gate.

Police used force to push them inside.

Meanwhile, Revanth Reddy has called for statewide protests against what he calls undemocratic attitude of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government. He asked the party cadres to organise protests in district and mandal headquarters.

"The police storming into our houses like KCR's private army and lifting is a proof of the rowdy state in Telangana which we have fought for with a lot of aspirations," said the TPCC chief.

Police personnel were deployed outside his residence in Jubilee Hills since morning to prevent him from leaving for Indira Park for leading the dharna as police had denied permission for the same.

Revanth Reddy took to Twitter to slam Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and said: "CM doesn't come out of Pragati Bhavan nor common man has access to it. If we question,we face cases & house arrests. Police surrounded my house & all important leaders to prevent from a dharna against the plight of Sarpanchs in the state. Democracy, where are you!?"

The Congress has already announced that it would go ahead with the dharna despite denial of permission by the police.

Earlier, Mallu Ravi decried the decision of police not to give permission for the dharna. He said this was shocking as the party had not sought permission for rasta roko or laying siege to the Assembly.

"We wanted to hold a peaceful dharna at a designated place," he said and pointed out that Dharna Chowk at Indira Park was established for the very purpose of democratic protests by people.

The Congress leader alleged that the state government is denying funds to panchayats and this is affecting the development of villages. He had appealed to sarpanches across the state to converge at the dharna site to express their resentment against the government's callous attitude in providing funds meant for villages.

The Congress party said it had been protesting to highlight the problems in 12,750 panchayats of Telangana and the unfair treatment to elected sarpanches.

Sarpanches, who mostly owe allegiance to ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), have been expressing concern over not receiving government funds for a year.

Dozens of them have come forward to submit their resignations.