Union Minister and Telangana BJP president G Kishan Reddy along with other party leaders sat on the road on Thursday after being stopped by police from proceeding to inspect a site of the BRS government’s housing scheme for the poor. “Am I a criminal? Am I a terrorist? I have a right to go anywhere in India,” Kishan Reddy told Commissioner of Rachakonda Police D S Chauhan who tried to persuade the Union Minister and other leaders to vacate the place. Kishan Reddy was later physically lifted by police and taken away from the place to a vehicle.
Earlier in the day, several Telangana BJP leaders, including Huzurabad BJP MLA Eatala Rajender, were placed under house arrest, to prevent them from visiting Batasingaram village near Hyderabad to inspect the construction of double-bedroom houses for the poor, which is part of a state government scheme.
Minister Kishan Reddy condemned the house arrests and said it exposed the tyrannical rule of K Chandrashekar Rao's Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS). Taking to Twitter, he said, "The house arrest of Telangana BJP leaders ahead of the visit to the housing construction site at Batasingaram Village in RR dist, Telangana is highly condemnable. It yet again exposes the tyrannical rule under BRS. High-handedness and muzzling of the opposition voice have become the hallmark of KCR govt."
The BJP has been criticising the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government for the delay in constructing these houses and had planned to visit one of the housing projects in a village in Rangareddy district as a response to the issue. The delegation, consisting of 60 BJP leaders, was supposed to be led by Union Minister and state BJP president G. Kishan Reddy.
However, the police took action and placed the BJP leaders under house arrest to prevent them from leaving for the village. Additionally, other BJP leaders attempting to head towards Batasingaram from different locations were detained by the police.
Taking to Twitter, MLA Eatala Rajender said, "The opposition has the right to protest in a democracy. It is our responsibility to bring public issues to the attention of the government. But KCR is acting autocratically. Our struggle will not stop just because we are arrested."