After house arrest, BRS legislators to stage “Chalo Bus Bhavan” protest

BRS leaders, including KTR and Harish Rao, were initially placed under house arrest but later allowed to board city buses to stage the ‘Chalo Bus Bhavan’ protest against the RTC fare hike. Police detained some leaders en route, delaying their movement.

Hyderabad: In a dramatic escalation of tensions between the government and the opposition, the police on Thursday morning placed several senior BRS leaders, including working president KT Rama Rao and former minister T Harish Rao, under house arrest ahead of the party’s ‘Chalo Bus Bhavan’ protest against the RTC fare hike. However, they were allowed to leave, after they clarified that they intended only to submit a memorandum to TGRTC authorities on bus fare hike.

The protest was planned to demand an immediate rollback of the increased bus fares, which the BRS has termed anti-poor and unjust. Police forces were deployed in large numbers outside the residences of Rama Rao and Harish Rao in Kokapet, and other senior leaders including Talasani Srinivas Yadav, Padma Rao Goud, and P Sabitha Indra Reddy, since early morning. However, they were allowed to leave after consultations with higher authorities.

Rama Rao, Srinivas Yadav and Padma Rao boarded at RTC at the Rathifile bus stand, while Harish Rao boarded a city bus from Mehdipatnam. Similarly, all the legislators boarded city buses in different parts of the city and headed to Bus Bhavan. Enroute, they interacted with the commuters and took their feedback on bus fare hike, besides creating awareness on unnecessary burden being imposed on passengers.

However, police reportedly disrupted their movement en route, detaining some leaders and releasing them at distant locations to delay their arrival. Former minister Sabitha Indra Reddy and MLA D Sudheer Reddy, who were travelling from Amberpet, were detained and taken to Lalaguda before being let off.

Taking to X earlier, Rama Rao condemned the police action. “All I wanted to do was board an RTC bus peacefully and submit a letter demanding rollback of the fare hike. Look at the number of police officers deployed outside my home, all to stop one person from boarding a bus?” he asked. He also took a swipe at the government, and added, “Wish the police showed the same enthusiasm in controlling Hyderabad’s rising crime rate.”

Calling the move undemocratic and a sign of the Congress regime’s insecurity, he said the BRS would continue its agitation until the fare hike was withdrawn. Reminding that such police suppression was not new for BRS, he asserted that the party would continue its agitation until the government withdrew the fare hike.