Police being used to silence Opposition: BJP

Telangana BJP accuses govt. of using police to crush dissent and Opposition parties with illegal arrests and confinements. D.K. Aruna urges partymen not to get disheartened and appeals to police not to follow illegal orders. Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy rushing to Pitlam police station to meet arrested leader. NVSS Prabhakar questions govt. on reduction of gas cylinder price and tax on fuel.

Telangana BJP has accused the government of using the police to crush dissent and Opposition parties with illegal arrests and confinements and asked if the State of Telangana could have been achieved if the then government of united Andhra Pradesh had resorted to similar repressive measures.

Party vice president and former minister D.K. Aruna claimed at a press conference at the party office here on Friday that BJP Kamareddy district president Venkataramana Reddy was arrested by the police for taking out the ‘Chalo Gajwel’ programme without assigning any reason and wanted to know if citizens in Telangana do not have the freedom to move anywhere.

“What is Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao scared about? Does he think using the police force will stop us from taking up protests highlighting his government’s failures? People of Telangana are waiting to teach him a lesson for cheating them all these nine years,” she claimed.

Ms. Aruna urged the partymen not get disheartened with the government’s using force to quell any kind of protest. “The next government is going to be formed by us. Our cadre should take note of those crossing the line and behaving like BRS party activists. I also appeal to the police not to blindly follow illegal orders,” she said.

The party has demanded unconditional release of Mr. Reddy and later it was informed that Union Minister for Tourism, Culture and Development of Northeast Region G. Kishan Reddy was rushing to the Pitlam police station to meet the arrested leader.

In a separate press conference, former MLA NVSS Prabhakar wanted to know how much the government was ready to bear after the Centre had announced the reduction of gas cylinder price by ₹200. He also asked why the government had not cut the tax on the fuel — petrol and diesel — despite the Centre cutting down taxes on its part.