Hyderabad: Political drama played out in Hyderabad on Thursday, July 2, as former minister T Harish Rao and other Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leaders were detained by police while proceeding to the Telangana Martyrs’ Memorial, also known as Gun Park, for a public debate with ruling Congress ministers over the state’s debt burden and alleged irregularities in Gurukul residential school tenders.
Congress ministers Ponnam Prabhakar, Adluri Laxman Kumar and Mohammed Azharuddin had reached Gun Park earlier in the day, challenging BRS leaders to a debate on the issue.
Harish Rao, along with BRS general secretary and former IPS officer RS Praveen Kumar and other senior party leaders, was detained by police outside Telangana Bhavan while heading to the venue.
Phone is ringing, no one answering: Harish Rao
Speaking to reporters before being taken into custody, the Siddipet MLA accused the Congress government of using the police to stop the BRS from taking part in the very debate its ministers had proposed. “We were going only for a debate, not for a fight. We are ready to present all the evidence even now. If the ministers had challenged us, why are the police stopping and arresting us,” he said.
In a video shared on social media, Harish Rao was seen trying to reach Minister Ponnam Prabhakar over phone in front of the media after being stopped by police. “See, the phone is ringing but Ponnam Prabhakar is not responding. First they challenge us, and when we are trying to reach them, the police are not letting us go,” he said, adding that he was also prevented from speaking to the minister directly.
Debate over debt, Gurukul tenders
The confrontation stemmed from a series of public challenges traded between Congress ministers and BRS leaders, including working president KT Rama Rao (KTR) and Harish Rao, over the state’s debt position and allegations of irregularities in tenders related to Telangana’s Gurukul residential schools.
On Thursday morning, KTR and Harish Rao arrived at Telangana Bhavan with other party leaders. While Rama Rao stayed back to await a debate with minister Jupally Krishna Rao, who had challenged him on the state’s debts, Harish Rao proceeded towards Gun Park along with Praveen Kumar and other leaders, only to be detained outside Telangana Bhavan.
Jupally Krishna Rao, however, did not turn up either at Telangana Bhavan or Gun Park initially, instead attending the Congress party’s weekly interaction programme at Gandhi Bhavan. Responding to media queries later, he said he had accepted the challenge for a debate at Gun Park and would head there, and dared KTR and Harish Rao to appear together at the memorial. “Let both of them come together and I will answer them at once,” he said.
Heavy police deployment amid tension
Police mounted heavy deployment around Telangana Bhavan, Gun Park and other key locations in the city as hundreds of workers of both Congress and BRS gathered, amid apprehensions of a confrontation between the two sides.
With the BRS leaders detained before they could reach the venue, the Congress ministers at Gun Park alleged that the opposition leaders had failed to turn up as they feared losing the debate, and left after addressing the media.
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