Hyderabad: Tension prevailed when former ministers T Harish Rao, P Sabita Indra Reddy and Errabelli Dayakar Rao were taken into custody when they were proceeding to meet farmers in Parigi, whose land parcels are proposed to be acquired for industrial purpose, on Tuesday morning. The leaders were taken into preventive custody at Appa Junction on the outskirts of the city and taken to the Shamshabad police station. After detaining them for a few hours, they were let off in the afternoon. Speaking to the media at the Shamshabad police station, BRS deputy floor leader Harish Rao said that arresting leaders for trying to visit and reassure farmers was nothing short of political high-handedness. He described the present administration as a regime of barricades, handcuffs and repression, and said “police rule is prevailing in the state”.He alleged the Congress govt was taking over fertile land for industrial purpose. He said govt was targeting the land parcels where two or three crops were being cultivated a year and was being proposed for industrial purpose. He demanded that the land acquisition notification be withdrawn immediately and made it clear that BRS would not step back until the notification was cancelled.He said Telangana was witnessing collapse of democratic values under chief minister A Revanth Reddy’s rule.“Democracy is being murdered in Telangana and reminded that Congress had once promised ‘democracy’ as its so-called seventh guarantee, but is now attacking opposition parties and suppressing dissent. While BRS was suspended from the assembly for raising people’s issues, govt is now going a step further by preventing opposition leaders from even meeting farmers,” Harish Rao added.“This is not healthy for democracy. A govt that fears questions from the opposition and fears the pain of farmers has no moral legitimacy. We are only trying to stand with the farmers and give them confidence. But this govt is trying to silence even that voice,” the BRS leader said.He alleged that the Congress govt has failed farmers, women, students, the elderly, and every section of society, and said people were now fully aware of the gap between Congress promises and Congress governance.
