Telangana Congress working president and MP, A. Revanth Reddy was arrested by the police on his way to Srisailam to meet the family members of those who perished in the fire accident in the Left Bank underground Hydel Power generation unit.
Mr. Reddy, along with former MP Mallu Ravi and numerous followers, were stopped near Velturu gate in Uppunuthala, and the police refused permission to them to head to the fire accident site stating that the CID enquiry was on. Mr. Reddy told the police that he would not enter the fire accident site already closed by the police for investigation but would like to console the families of those affected.
Police did not relent even as Mr. Reddy argued with them as to how they can prevent an elected MP from meeting the people. After a heated argument, he was arrested along with Mr. Mallu Ravi even as the Congress workers raised slogans against the government. They were shifted to Uppunuthala police station.
Mr. Reddy released a video blaming the government for the incident in which nine employees lost their lives while a few others were injured. He alleged that technicians had already warned the government about some issues that could lead to accidents at the power unit. However, no review was done so far by the Power Minister Jagadish Reddy and the Chairman and Managing Director of TS Transo and TS Genco D. Prabhakar Rao.
The Congress MP said criminal cases should be filed against them for negligence leading to the death of so many engineers and employees. “I want to raise the issue in Parliament seeking a CBI enquiry,” he said. He also refused to leave the police station saying that he would return to Hyderabad only after visiting the affected families.
After the arrest Congress activists across the combined Mahabubnagar district staged dharnas protesting against the ‘illegal’ arrests. Nagarkurnool District Congress president, Vamshi Krishna was put under house arrest by the police fearing that he would join Mr. Reddy. Protests were held at all mandal headquarters against the arrests.
Uttam Jana condemn
TPCC president, N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, former CLP leader K. Jana Reddy, AICC Secretary Ch. Vamshichand Reddy and former minister Shabbir Ali condemned the arrests and asked the police to let the Congress leaders visit Srisailam. They accused the government of creating a ‘police raj’ in the State and said that it had become a habit for the State to arrest opposition leaders for no reason.
Congress leaders at DGP’s house
A delegation of the Congress leaders led by AICC secretary A. Sampath Kumar and Youth Congress president,Anil Kumar Yadav went to the DGP M. Mahender Reddy’s residence to submit a memorandum against the arrests. However, they were not allowed in by the police as they had no prior appointment to meet the DGP. They were later arrested and shifted to Goshamahal police station.
