Published Jul 22, 2026 | 4:16 PM ⚊ Updated Jul 22, 2026 | 4:56 PM
Minister for revenue and housing Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, TPCC Chief Mahesh Kumar Goud, and Minister for health Damodara Raja Narsimha being detained
Synopsis: Telangana on Wednesday witnessed protests and counter-protests over the police action on Congress parliamentarians and CJP protesters in New Delhi a day earlier. Congress leaders, including state ministers protesting the police crackdown, were detained by the police, while BJP leaders who organised a counter-protest were also taken into custody separately.
Political tensions escalated across Telangana on Wednesday, 22 July, as senior Congress leaders, including state cabinet ministers, were detained during protests over the police crackdown on the party’s parliamentarians, including Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi in Delhi a day earlier. State BJP president N. Ramachander Rao was separately taken into custody while attempting to march to the Congress headquarters, Gandhi Bhavan.
Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) chief B. Mahesh Kumar Goud led party cadre and senior leaders on a ‘Chalo Raj Bhavan’ march from the Indira Gandhi statue to Raj Bhavan in Hyderabad, protesting what the party described as an ‘assault’ on Rahul Gandhi by the central government.
Minister for Revenue, Housing, and I&PR Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy; Minister for Health Damodar Raja Narsimha; Minister for Minorities Welfare Azharuddin; Minister for Labour & Employment Vivek Venkatswamy joined the march. MLAs Danam Nagender and Naveen Yadav, and senior leaders Shabbir Ali, Balmoori Venkat and Rohin Reddy, were also in attendance, backed by a large number of INC and NSUI cadres.
Goud accused the Centre of running a “police raj” and said the government would eventually have to answer to the country’s youth. He questioned why Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan continued to hold his post despite the ongoing NEET paper-leak controversy.
Police intercepted the Congress leaders before they could reach Raj Bhavan. The leaders and party workers were taken into custody and moved to police stations across the city.
Goud, Raja Narsimha, and Ponguleti were among those detained.
Speaking to the press while being detained, the health minister said, “This is undemocratic. There is no accountability or responsibility in this country,” referring to Pradhan and the Delhi Police.
Also Read: ‘Hyderabad demands PM Modi’s resignation’: CJP-sparked agitation goes beyond NEET, Pradhan
The BJP’s Telangana unit mounted its own counter-mobilisation on Wednesday. State president N. Ramachander Rao called for a rally to Gandhi Bhavan to condemn the Congress-led demonstrations in the state over the events in Delhi.
Violence erupted when BJP leaders clashed with Congress supporters who tried to lay siege to the BJP office, where the party was set to begin its rally.
The cadres resorted to stone pelting, hurting a reporter from the YouTube News channel Legend TV. The correspondent, Praveen, was injured and has been undergoing emergency treatment at Care Hospital in Nampally.
Ramachander Rao and BJP leaders accompanying him were detained by police.
Also Read: India’s students’ revolt has exposed BJP’s biggest political blind spot
Chief Minister Revanth Reddy participated in a separate dharna at Ambedkar Chowrasta in his home constituency of Kodangal. He condemned the detention of Rahul Gandhi and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi in Delhi and said that their protest was proof of the party’s long history of resisting oppression.
He accused the BJP-led Centre of suppressing democratic dissent and avoiding a parliamentary debate on the NEET scandal. He alleged that protesting students had faced a heavy police response that left several injured and some unaccounted for.
Invoking the Gandhi family’s history of political sacrifice, he recalled that Sonia Gandhi had once turned down the prime ministership despite the Congress holding power, and said the party’s agitation would continue until Pradhan was removed from the Union Cabinet.
Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka led a protest in Hanamkonda alongside Minister Konda Surekha and MLA Nayini Rajender Reddy, accusing the BJP of habitually suppressing opposition voices.
In Sangareddy, TPCC working president T. Jagga Reddy has been on a sit-in protest since Tuesday night, demanding that the state BJP leaders must be held accountable if the Centre failed to apologise to Rahul Gandhi and secure Pradhan’s resignation.
Also Read: Opposition MPs, dressed in black, protest outside Parliament even as Centre agrees for NEET debate
Wednesday’s Congress-led demostrations came a day after Left-affiliated student organisations including the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), the All India Students Federation (AISF) and the All India Federation of Democratic Students (AIFDS) attempted a ‘Chalo Lok Bhavan’ march in Hyderabad on Tuesday in solidarity with students protesting in Delhi, which was met with police action.
Khairatabad police dragged and forced students into police vehicles, detaining at least 26 students. This incident garnered widespread criticism from student groups across the state after a video of the scuffle went viral. The detained students were later released at 5 PM that evening.
Student leaders have accused the Telangana Congress government of repeatedly targeting peaceful demonstrations in the state.
Earlier this month, police carried out preventive detentions of student leaders ahead of a ‘Chalo Secretariat’ over delays in fee reimbursements and scholarships. Hundreds of students still reached the Secretariat, where they were detained and sustained injuries in the police action.
In a separate incident, student groups laying siege to ministers’ residences during a state-wide shutdown of educational institutions accused police of assaulting and forcibly arresting protesters.
Unemployed youth organising sit-ins demanding the state to release notifications for the promised government job vacancies were also met with police brutality this year.
Recalling these incidents, SFI state secretary T Nagaraju referred to the Congress leaders’ demonstrations on Wednesday as a display of hypocrisy.
“Just yesterday they forcibly disrupted our peaceful protest. So the Congress leaders suddenly remembered what democracy is when Rahul Gandhi was arrested in Delhi? And now they are doing exactly what we are doing, protesting. Why the double standards then?” asked Nagaraju speaking to South First.
(Edited by Fayisa CA)
