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Telangana Congress leaders arrested as protests turn violent in Hyderabad

Congress leaders including Renuka Chowdary, Revanth Reddy, Geetha Reddy and others arrested for protesting ED questioning Rahul Gandhi.

ByAjay Tomar

Published Jun 16, 2022 | 4:02 PM ⚊UpdatedAug 16, 2022 | 2:33 PM

Telangana Congress protests in Hyderabad

Telangana Congress protests turn violent

Former Union minister Renuka Chowdhury was arrested and top Congress leaders including TPCC president A Revanth Reddy were detained during the party’s Chalo Raj Bhavan protest march in Hyderabad on Thursday, 16 June.

The Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee had called for the agitation to protest against the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summoning Rahul Gandhi for questioning in the National Herald money-laundering case.

The other Congress party leaders arrested were former state minister Jetti Geeta Reddy, former Lok Sabha members Anjan Kumar Yadav and Mallu Ravi, Rajya Sabha member KC Venugopal, Lok Sabha member Manickam Tagore, Congress Legislature Party leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, TPCC general secretary Uzma Shakir, and MLAs T Jayaprakash ‘Jagga’ Reddy and D Sridhar Babu.

Protests turn violent

Hundreds of activists from the Congress and its student wing, the National Students’ Union of Indi held scattered protests along the road from Khairatabad to the Raj Bhavan.

The protests, however, turned violent when the agitators set a two-wheeler on fire in the middle of a busy road right under the Khairatabad flyover.

Congress workers vandalise TSRTC busses during protests

Congress workers break window panes of a TSRTC bus during protests. (South First/Ajay Tomar)

While the vehicle was still burning, some of the agitators stopped two TSRTC buses and vandalised them.

They broke the window panes of one of the buses.

They also climbed on top of the buses and chanted slogans, despite police efforts to subdue them.

Following this, the TPCC and NSUI workers, led by former MP V Hanumantha Rao, breached police barricades set up in front of the governor’s official residence and attempted to march into the Raj Bhavan.

This led to a tussle between the protestors and the police. The cops, along with the paramilitary forces, scattered some protestors and detained the others.

The Renuka Chowdhury incident

Congress MP Renuka Chowdary arrested by Hyderabad Police

Former MP Renuka Chowdhury arrested by the Hyderabad City Police. (South First/Ajay Tomar)

Chowdhury, the former MP from Khammam, was arrested for allegedly grabbing the collar of a policeman and booked under IPC Sections 151, 140, 147, 149, 341, and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty).

“What was supposed to be a peaceful protest turned into chaos. That was why we had to detain the protestors and we cannot allow them to move any closer to the Raj Bhavan as it can disturb the law and order in the state,” said a senior police officer.

The officer also told South First that the detainees were held at Goshamahal, Bollaram, Punjagutta, and other police stations in the city.

Nationwide protests

The Congress workers also held protests in Chennai, Bengaluru, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jammu, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Jalandhar, and Thiruvananthapuram to oppose the questioning of Rahul Gandhi by the ED.

The party views this as a distraction from the failures of the Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre.