High drama in Hyderabad as Harish Rao, other BRS leaders detained over open debate row

Political tensions escalated in Hyderabad as several BRS leaders, including T Harish Rao and RS Praveen Kumar, were arrested while heading to Gun Park for a proposed debate with Congress Ministers over Telangana's debt burden and alleged irregularities in Gurukul tenders.

Hyderabad: High political drama unfolded in Hyderabad on Thursday as the face-off between the ruling Congress and the opposition BRS over Telangana’s debt burden and alleged irregularities in Gurukul residential school tenders culminated in the arrest of several BRS leaders, even as leaders from both parties traded fresh challenges for an open debate.

Former Ministers T Harish Rao and V Srinivas Goud, BRS General Secretary RS Praveen Kumar and several party leaders were arrested by the police outside Telangana Bhavan while attempting to proceed to the Telangana Martyrs’ Memorial (Gun Park), where Congress Ministers had challenged them to a public debate. The arrests came amid heavy police deployment around Telangana Bhavan, Gun Park and other key locations, as hundreds of Congress and BRS workers gathered, raising fears of a confrontation.

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Addressing the media before being taken into custody, Harish Rao accused the Congress government of using the police to prevent the BRS from participating in the very debate that its Ministers had proposed. He said they were carrying documentary evidence to substantiate their allegations of irregularities in Gurukul school tenders.

“We were going only for a debate, not for a fight. We are ready to present all the evidence even now. If the Ministers had challenged us, why are the police stopping and arresting us?” he asked. He also alleged that none of the Ministers, Ponnam Prabhakar, Adluri Laxman and Mohd Azharuddin, responded to his repeated phone calls as he asked the police to allow them to proceed to Gun Park.

The confrontation stemmed from a series of public challenges and counter-challenges between the Congress Ministers and BRS working president KT Rama Rao and senior leader T Harish Rao over Telangana’s debt burden and allegations relating to residential school tenders.

On Thursday morning, Rama Rao and Harish Rao reached Telangana Bhavan along with other BRS leaders. While Rama Rao remained at Telangana Bhavan awaiting the debate with Minister Jupally Krishna Rao, who had challenged the BRS to a debate on the State’s debt, Harish Rao, accompanied by senior BRS leaders, including Srinivas Goud and RS Praveen Kumar, proceeded towards the Telangana Martyrs’ Memorial but was arrested outside Telangana Bhavan. They were shifted to the Kanchanbagh police station amid high drama and were released later in the evening.

However, Jupally Krishna Rao did not arrive either at Telangana Bhavan or Gun Park initially. Instead, he attended the Congress’ weekly interaction programme at Gandhi Bhavan with party cadre and elected representatives. Responding to media queries, the Minister took a U-turn from his previous claim of a debate at Telangana Bhavan and said he had accepted the challenge for a debate at Gun Park and would head there shortly.

He dared both KT Rama Rao and Harish Rao to come together for a debate at the Martyrs’ Memorial. “Let both of them come together and I will answer them at once,” he said. He also wanted them to convince BRS chief and former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao to join the debate.

Meanwhile, Ministers Ponnam Prabhakar, Adluri Laxman and Mohammed Azharuddin reached Gun Park for a debate with the BRS leaders over allegations of irregularities in residential school tenders. While the police had arrested the BRS leaders, the Ministers claimed that the BRS leaders did not turn up, fearing defeat, and left after speaking to the media.