Congress bid to lay siege to KCR’s farmhouse turns violent

Hyderabad: Congress party’s bid to lay siege to the farmhouse of Leader of Opposition K Chandrashekar Rao created tension turning into violent incidents with clashes between the BRS and the ruling party activists.

This resulted in the arrest of senior BRS leaders including KT Rama Rao, T Harish Rao and others. Angered over a ‘Chavu Dappu’ rally taken out by the Congress supporters to KCR farmhouse, many Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leaders and MLAs rushed to Erravalli from the Assembly.

Amid high tension, police detained all the BRS leaders who were on the way to the farmhouse and shifted them to different police stations.

Tension prevailed near KCR's farmhouse in Gajwel as large numbers of Congress cadres attempted to lay siege to the farmhouse, accompanied by the beating of drums. Police intercepted them at various points.

Authorities were on high alert following a call by Congress leaders to perform a symbolic "Chavu Dappu’ (death drum) ritual at the Erravalli farmhouse using thousand drums. Heavy police force was deployed at KCR's farmhouse, and checkpoints were set up to conduct inspections; police blocked Congress leaders who attempted to reach the farmhouse.

The activists of both parties clashed with each other. The Congress party in charge of Gajwel T Narsa Reddy sustained injuries during the scuffle with the police.

After getting to know about the Congress leaders' plans, the BRS MLAs also set out for the Erravalli farmhouse in vehicles. Legislators from the party, led by former ministers KTR and Harish Rao, departed from the Assembly. BRS leaders expressed strong outrage over comments made by Shadnagar MLA Virlapalli Shankar, who had reportedly wished for KCR's death.

Police intercepted several BRS leaders heading to the farmhouse at the Bollaram crossroads, leading to a heated argument between MLA P Kaushik Reddy and the police. He angrily questioned why they were being stopped from visiting "their own home". The police intercepted KTR at Hakimpet and arrested him. The BRS working president was shifted to the owenpally police station.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The Hans India