Congress workers on Monday succeeded in giving a slip to the police and reached the farmhouse of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao located at Erravalli village of Murkook Mandal in Siddipet district.
The administration deployed a heavy police force and heightened security was put in place in and around the village. All the main roads, as well as sub passages, were taken into control and the police searched every house located in the vicinity to check whether there were any party activists hiding in them. Determined to reach the venue, the Congress workers however sprang a surprise by arriving in small groups and reaching the village by available modes of transport.
Some came riding bicycles and some others walking through the fields and more than 50 activists led by district Congress committee president T. Narsa Reddy were arrested. They were later shifted to different police stations. Police had a tough time in dealing with the Congress workers who barged into the village breaking the police cordon.
Tension was palpable in the area ever since the Congress announced its resolve to conduct ‘Rachabanda’ , face-to-face interaction with people, in the village where the Chief Minister’s farmhouse was located. Security arrangements were tightened after TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy announced that he would personally lead the Congress’ delegation.
Meanwhile, Forest Development Corporation chairman V. Pratap Reddy visited the village warning that the Congress’ Rachabanda would not be allowed in the village. On Sunday, some of the TRS leaders manhandled the Congress workers.
“Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao has been asking farmers not to cultivate paddy after the Centre made it clear that it will not purchase paddy in the summer. But the Chief Minister has been cultivating paddy in about 150 acres in the farmhouse. How can he justify this?” asked Mr. Narsa Reddy before being arrested by the police.
