On Thursday, July 20, Telangana Police forcefully detained Union Minister and BJP Telangana BJP president G Kishan Reddy near Shamshabad Airport in the state’s capital of Hyderabad. The Union Minister was manhandled and detained by the police while he was on his way to the housing construction site at Batasingaram village in Telangana’s Rangareddy district.
Telangana BJP has accused the BRS government of indulging in “large-scale corruption and diversion of funds” released by the Centre and the funding agencies for the construction of two-bedroom housing for the poor in the State. A 60-member delegation led by Union Minister G Kishan Reddy was on his way to the Batasingaram village to review the construction of houses sanctioned under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) when the Telangana police stopped the convoy and manhandled the minister.
Sharing a picture which showed how he was manhandled by the Telangana Police, the BJP leader slammed the BRS government for running an anarchic regime in Telangana. “𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗞𝗖𝗥 𝗚𝗼𝘃𝘁, 𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗕𝗝𝗣 𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁 𝗿𝗮𝘇𝗮𝗸𝗮𝗿 𝗿𝘂𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗥𝗦 𝗴𝗼𝘃𝘁 Our fight will last until every homeless gets home in Telangana. Our fight will continue for the people’s issues.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗞𝗖𝗥 𝗚𝗼𝘃𝘁, 𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗕𝗝𝗣 𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁 𝗿𝗮𝘇𝗮𝗸𝗮𝗿 𝗿𝘂𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗥𝗦 𝗴𝗼𝘃𝘁
— G Kishan Reddy (@kishanreddybjp) July 20, 2023
Our fight will last until every homeless gets home in Telangana.
Our fight will continue for the people’s… pic.twitter.com/TtrfKYnDGR
In another video of the incident shared by G Kishan Reddy, the minister is heard saying in Telugu “Am I a criminal? Am I a terrorist? I have the right to go anywhere, Is this a police state? Is this the kingdom of Kalvakuntla (KCR).” The police, meanwhile, are seen forcefully picking up the minister and carrying him to a car.
The Union Minister was reportedly on his way to Batasingaram when he was stopped near Tukkuguda by the Rachakonda Police.
Expressing strong exceptions against the Telangana police, working at the behest of the BRS government in the state, preventing a cabinet minister from visiting a public housing site, the Union Minister sat on a protest in the rain near the airport after his convoy was stopped. He threatened to complain to the Lok Sabha speaker for restricting his movement. This led to an argument with Police Commissioner D Chouhan.
The Police Commissioner is heard telling the BJP Minister that they are just doing their duty. When G Kishan Reddy refused to move, the Telangana police lifted him forcefully and made him sit in a car. He was later taken away by the police.
According to reports, the police took the minister’s convoy through different places in the city before leaving him at the BJP state office in Nampally.
నా అరెస్టుతో @BJP4Telangana ఉద్యమాన్ని ఆపలేరు!
— G Kishan Reddy (@kishanreddybjp) July 20, 2023
తెలంగాణలోని సొంత ఇల్లు లేని ప్రతి కుటుంబానికి ఇల్లు కట్టించి ఇచ్చే వరకు మా పోరాటం కొనసాగుతుంది.
బీఆర్ఎస్ ప్రభుత్వ రజాకార్ల పాలనకు వ్యతిరేకంగా ప్రజా సమస్యలపై బీజేపీ నిరంతరం పోరాడుతుంది. pic.twitter.com/h7ZsOu73ut
Following the arbitrary action taken by the Telangana police against the Union Minister, the latter wrote a letter to President Draupadi Murmu in which he wrote how the Telangana police had arrested him despite being given advance notification about the proposed trip to inspect the stalled two-bedroom housing project at Batasingaram on Thursday.
Union Minister G Kishan Reddy has written to President Droupadi Murmu and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla after he was stopped by police in Shamshabad as he was leaving for Batasingaram from Shamshabad airport to review the construction of houses sanctioned under Pradhan Mantri Awas… pic.twitter.com/Itgs9SWfJn
— ANI (@ANI) July 20, 2023
In an official letter to the President, a copy of which was released to the media, the Telangana BJP president informed that about 2.5 lakh two-bedroom houses were sanctioned under the PMAY – Prime Minister Awas Yojana, and as a Union Minister he was duty bound to inspect the Centre schemes. He had informed the police that his visit was not to conduct any agitation or a sit-in protest, yet the TS government had inhibited him from discharging his duties as an MP and as a Union Minister, he said.
In a separate communication to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha Om Birla, the Minister urged him to consider his arrest by the TS police as a “breach of privilege” and sought his earliest attention to the matter.
Telangana police places several BJP leaders under house arrest
Notably, hours before G Kishan Reddy arrived in the city of Hyderabad on Thursday, several Telangana BJP leaders, including Huzurabad MLA Eatala Rajender, were placed under house arrest.
BJP leader and Union Minister G Kishan Reddy condemned the 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,” he added.
The house arrest of @BJP4Telangana leaders ahead of the visit to the housing construction site at Batasingaram Village in R R dist, Telangana is highly condemnable. It yet again exposes the tyrannical rule under BRS.
— G Kishan Reddy (@kishanreddybjp) July 20, 2023
High-handedness and muzzling of opposition voice has become… pic.twitter.com/8B8aiF3Q0r
Kishan Reddy accused the State administration of being anti-poor and claimed that the government’s actions were meant to silence those who dissent from it.
He asserted that the Narendra Modi administration has approved three crore homes for the poor across the nation and that the Centre was ready to approve additional houses for Telangana if necessary.
He asserted that the State Government was neglecting the construction of houses for the poor.
It may be recalled that in 2018, the Central government had asked the Telangana state government to return the 190 crores given in 2016-17 for building rural houses for the economically backwards under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).
This move from the Centre came after the State refused to update the Centre about its progress on implementing the scheme. Telangana was given a target of building 70,674 houses in 2016-17 and the first instalment of Rs 190.78 crore was provided to the state.
As per the report published in October 2018, the KCR government in Telangana also did not seek the second instalment of PMAY-Grameen funds for 2016-17 till then. As per the ministry’s portal, Telangana had not made a single house under PMAY-Grameen until then.
