Hyderabad, Sep 7 (IANS) Amid chaos during the protest by the Opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) legislators at the main entrance of the Telangana Assembly on the first day of the Monsoon Session on Monday, party leaders K.T. Rama Rao, T. Harish Rao and others were detained by the police.
Police stopped the BRS MLAs and MLCs, wearing black T-shirts with slogans over what they called the unfulfilled promises of the state government.
Police officials told them that there was no permission to enter the Assembly in T-shirts. This led to heated argument between the legislators and police, ultimately leading to a scuffle.
BRS alleged K.T. Rama Rao, Jagadish Reddy, and Sunitha Reddy sustained minor injuries in the police action.
Former minister and BRS Deputy Leader in Assembly, Harish Rao fell down during the scuffle.
MLA Sunitha Reddy broke down over the alleged rough handling by the police personnel. The Opposition MLA alleged that police personnel tore her saree and humiliated her.
The BRS alleged that police personnel also manhandled former minister Sabitha Indra Reddy by pulling her hair.
Amid the commotion, former minister Jagdish Reddy fell unconscious while K.T. Rama Rao and Harish Rao took off their T-shirts to lodge their protest in vests.
The police personnel then physically lifted the protesting MLAs and whisked them away.
BRS alleged that Harish Rao was subjected to rough treatment by the police. BRS cadres were furious over the police’s ‘undemocratic’ conduct, noting that they disregarded the fact that he is an Opposition leader.
BRS leaders alleged that the Revanth Reddy government is resorting to physical assaults and arrests out of fear that the Opposition would question the government.
The Opposition party also alleged that police behaved rudely with K.T. Rama Rao during his arrest and allegedly forced him into the vehicle.
BRS MLAs Talasani Srinivas Yadav, Sabitha Indra Reddy, Sunitha Reddy, Kova Lakshmi, and Madhavaram Krishna Rao staged a sit-in protest inside the Assembly gate against the police’s alleged high-handed actions towards their fellow BRS MLAs.
K.T. Rama Rao expressed his anger at the government over the police’s conduct. He questioned that when Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, can wear a black T-shirt in Parliament to lodge a protest, why were they stopped.
The former minister said they were only questioning the government on its failure to fulfil the promises made during the 2023 elections.
K.T. Rama Rao, Harish Rao and other leaders reached party headquarters soon after. The party has given a call for statewide protests against the government’s action to stop its legislators from attending the session.
Earlier, the BRS legislators gathered at Telangana Martyrs’ Memorial at Gun Park to stage a protest before marching to the Assembly. K.T. Rama Rao alleged that the state government betrayed all sections of people by not implementing the promises.
He alleged the government had failed to fulfil any of the 420 promises, six guarantees and 13 declarations.
–IANS
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