Several BRS leaders under 'house arrest' after party calls for meeting at turncoat MLA's house

Hyderabad, Sep 13 (PTI) Against the backdrop of a proposed meeting of BRS party activists of Serilingampally Assembly constituency to be held at the residence of MLA Arekapudi Gandhi who defected to the Congress, several leaders and cadres of the opposition party on Friday were put under "house arrest." The BRS leaders would start from the residence of its Medchal district president Sambhipur Raju for the meeting, the party sources said.

The police made tight security arrangements at the residence of Sambhipur Raju as the BRS leaders were expected to gather there before leaving for the meeting at the residence of turncoat MLA Gandhi.

The meeting was a result of a war of words and a scuffle between the supporters of BRS MLA P Kaushik Reddy and turncoat MLA Gandhi, at the former’s residence here on Thursday which witnessed tense moments.

A police official said Raju and Kaushik Reddy were put under house arrest at the residence of Raju with a view to ensure that law and order was not disturbed.

He pointed out that Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations are going on.

The leaders would be put under house arrest till evening and they would be released as per the situation, he said.

BRS Working President K T Rama Rao on Friday in a statement claimed that his party leaders were put under house arrest across the state.

The BRS leaders were taken into custody (later released) illegally on Thursday and they were put under house arrest today, Rama Rao said in a statement.

The Congress government claims that it was inspired by the welfare rule of former PM Indira Gandhi but its actions now remind of emergency, he alleged.

The BRS' proposed meeting would also be attended by Kaushik Reddy, the party said.

BRS MLA and former minister T Harish Rao claimed on X that the party's leaders and activists were taken into preventive custody across the state.

If the government is sincere, "Congress goondas" and the followers of MLA Arekapudi Gandhi should be arrested for the alleged attack on BRS MLA Kaushik Reddy, said Harish Rao, a nephew of BRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao.

Telangana DGP Jitender on Friday said anyone trying to disturb peace and law and order would be dealt with sternly.

Jitender held a conference with the police commissioners of Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda here.

The DGP stressed that there should not be any compromise on the law and order situation in the tri-Commissionerates of Hyderabad and that anyone trying to disturb peace and law and order should be dealt with strictly as per law, a police release said.

The DGP appealed to all to not take law into their hands.

Rivals, ruling Congress and BRS sparred on Thursday after a scuffle broke out between the followers of the BRS legislator Kaushik Reddy and Gandhi at the former's residence here.

Mild tension prevailed at the residence of Reddy at Kondapur here after Gandhi reached the spot along with his followers in response to the BRS MLA's challenge that the latter should prove which party he belonged to.

Gandhi's appointment as Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of Telangana legislature irked the K Chandrasekhar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS), which called it a "day-light murder of the Constitution" since it was a tradition to appoint an opposition member as the head of the committee.

BRS and Congress leaders were involved in an exchange of words. PTI SJR GDK SJR SS