Harish Rao placed under house arrest ahead of Sanathnagar TIMS visit
BRS leader T Harish Rao was placed under house arrest in Kokapet on Wednesday ahead of his proposed visit to Sanathnagar TIMS hospital. Police said the move was preventive, amid a political dispute between the Congress and BRS over the project.
Updated On - 19 August 2026, 04:57 PM
Hyderabad: BRSLP deputy leader and former Minister T Harish Rao was placed under house arrest at his Kokapet residence on Wednesday, as police deployed a large number of personnel to prevent him from visiting the newly inaugurated TIMS hospital at Sanathnagar. Police said the action was a precautionary measure to prevent any untoward incident during the proposed visit.
Former Ministers P Sabitha Indra Reddy, Talasani Srinivas Yadav, V Srinivas Goud and several other leaders were also placed under house arrest after BRS leaders announced plans to visit the hospital.
Police told the BRS leaders that the latter had no permission to enter the Sanathnagar TIMS hospital. Tension prevailed outside Harish Rao’s residence as he attempted to leave and police obstructed his vehicle. LB Nagar MLA D Sudheer Reddy reached the residence after learning about the house arrest, while BRS workers gathered and objected to the police action.
Sabitha Indra Reddy, Talasani Srinivas Yadav and other BRS leaders also attempted to leave but were stopped by the police, leading to heated arguments between the police and the party cadre.
The house arrest came amid a political dispute between the Congress government and the BRS over the TIMS hospital. The BRS has been alleging that most of the works on the hospital were completed during its government and that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy merely inaugurated the project.
Speaking to media, Harish Rao condemned the preventive arrests and house arrests, alleging that the government was afraid that its failures and deficiencies at the hospital would be exposed if Opposition leaders inspected the facility. He accused the Congress government of trying to silence the Opposition through police restrictions akin to an undeclared Emergency.
Talasani Srinivas Yadav accused the government of using detentions to cover up its failures and questioned why it was afraid of BRS leaders visiting a hospital. He also criticised Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s remarks at the TIMS inauguration, stating that the language used in the presence of doctors and nursing students was inappropriate for an official programme.
Srinivas Goud said preventing Opposition leaders from raising public issues was unacceptable and asserted that the BRS would continue to highlight people’s problems and place the facts before the public.
Sudheer Reddy alleged that TIMS was inaugurated without completing basic infrastructure and full-fledged medical services. He credited the previous BRS government with establishing 34 government medical colleges and initiating four TIMS hospitals with a plan to create 10,000 beds. He stated that the Congress government had deliberately slowed the works over the past three years.
The BRS demanded completion of pending infrastructure and provision of full-fledged medical services at TIMS hospitals. They said the Congress government was focusing on inaugurations to take credit for the work completed by the previous BRS government, rather than ensuring facilities were operational.
Meanwhile, outsourcing staff at Sanathnagar TIMS staged a protest at the main entrance, alleging that the contract agency had not paid their salaries for four months.