BRS slams Revanth Reddy’s padayatra, condemns arrests of party leaders

Former Minister Harish Rao led the charge, condemning the illegal detention of BRS leaders, including former MLAs K Prabhakar Reddy, Chirumarthy Lingaiah, and Bhupal Reddy, ahead of the Chief Minister's padayatra.

Hyderabad: The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) on Friday launched a broadside against Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy over his Musi Padayatra, calling it a political drama ignoring the root causes of the Musi River’s degradation. Former Minister Harish Rao led the charge, condemning the illegal detention of BRS leaders, including former MLAs K Prabhakar Reddy, Chirumarthy Lingaiah, and Bhupal Reddy, ahead of the Chief Minister’s padayatra.

“Detaining our leaders and activists won’t gain public support for your padayatra,” said Harish Rao, questioning the intent behind the walkathon, terming it as a symbolic march for a problem the Congress party created. “Isn’t it your party’s 50 years of misrule that turned Musi River into a drainage canal? No amount of padayatras or atonement walks will cleanse the Congress’s sins,” he remarked.

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In a statement, the former Minister pointed out that while homes in Hyderabad were being demolished, the Chief Minister chose to hold a march in Nalgonda. “If you have any courage, conduct your walkathon in Hyderabad, where the real victims of your policies reside,” he said, adding that even the padayatra was being conducted amid tight security and illegal detention of the BRS leaders. Extending birthday wishes, he hoped that at least for one day on the occasion of Revanth Reddy’s birthday, he would run the government without illegal detentions and arrests.

In a separate statement, BRS leader A Rakesh Reddy criticised the Chief Minister for failing to fulfill his promises, and detaining the BRS leaders during his padayatra in Nalgonda. He demanded to know why the BRS leaders were being detained, if Revanth Reddy was not scared of people’s backlash. He suggested that Revanth Reddy should pay for his sins by seeking forgiveness of Lord Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy at Yadadri on whom he took a pledge, with the promise to implement a complete loan waiver.

BRS leader Tunga Balu also demanded the immediate release of the detained members of BRS and warned the Congress government against underestimating public anger. “If provoked, the people of Nalgonda will not remain silent,” he said, adding that the Congress government was deceiving people with inflated project costs for Musi River rejuvenation.