Hyderabad: Police arrested Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president A Revanth Reddy and other leaders during a protest against fuel price hike on Friday. Tension prevailed in the Indira Park area in the heart of the city as Revanth Reddy and other leaders tried to advance towards the Ambedkar statue despite police denying them permission.


The opposition party leaders wanted to march to Raj Bhawan to submit a memorandum against the fuel price hike. As Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan was not available, they wanted to march to the Ambedkar statue to submit their memorandum. TPCC had called for 'Chalo Raj Bhavan' to lodge its protest against the hike in fuel prices but police had denied permission for the same.






However, the Congress leaders were only allowed to hold a protest meeting at Dharna Chowk at Indira Park. When Revanth Reddy and others removed the police barricades and tried to force their way towards Tank Bund to reach the Ambedkar statue, police stopped them. This led to pushing and jostling between the two sides.


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The police arrested Revanth Reddy, TPCC working president Anjan Kumar Yadav, AICC secretary Madhu Yaskhi, former union minister Balram Naik, MLA Seethakka and other leaders and shifted them to different police stations. Revanth Reddy said police cannot suppress their voice with arrests. He vowed to continue the fight against the price hike.


Earlier, addressing the dharna, the TPCC chief alleged that the Modi government has put Rs 36 lakh crore burden on people. He claimed that no other country in the world has such a huge tax on petroleum products. Revanth Reddy slammed both Modi and KCR governments saying they are responsible for Rs 6 lakh debt burden on every citizen.


He termed the behaviour of police as atrocious. He said NSUI state president Venkat Balmoor was arrested despite the permission granted for a protest at Indira Park. The Congress party alleged that several leaders and workers were placed under house arrest or were prevented from reaching Indira Park. AICC secretary N. Bose Raju also participated in the dharna protest against the increase in process of petrol, diesel and LPG. He said repeated fuel price has adversely affected the livelihood of the common man.


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He pointed out a major component of the fuel price is the excise duty imposed by the Modi government. He said excise duty on petrol is Rs 32.98 per litre and on diesel, it is Rs 31.83 per litre. He recalled that at the end of the term of UPA II, excise duty on petrol was Rs 9.21 per litre and that on diesel was Rs 3.45 per litre. This was the second major protest programme organised by Congress on the price hike issue since Revanth Reddy took over as TPCC chief last week.


(With inputs from IANS)