Telangana election: Grand alliance leaders, activists held for protesting at CBI office

The detained activists were shifted to Kanchanbagh police station and were let off by the evening.
Members of grand alliance parties protest at the CBI office in Koti, Hyderabad on Friday. They protested against the Centre’s move to divest CBI Director Verma of all powers and send him on leave.  Sathya Keerthi
Members of grand alliance parties protest at the CBI office in Koti, Hyderabad on Friday. They protested against the Centre’s move to divest CBI Director Verma of all powers and send him on leave. Sathya Keerthi

HYDERABAD: Hundreds of activists, including Telangana Congress party in-charge RC Khuntia, TPCC president Uttam Kumar Reddy were detained by the police after they staged dharna in front of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) office in Hyderabad against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to sent the agency’s director Alok Verma on leave. 

Members of all parties in the grand alliance, Congress, TDP, CPI and TJS, participated in the protest. Telangana TDP president L Ramana, CPI State secretary Chada Venkat Reddy were also present. 
The Congress had on Thursday called for a nationwide protest against the Prime Minister for his alleged role in the controversy. 

The activists gathered at Koti and raised slogans against Modi and sought the public to ‘save democracy and save CBI’. Addressing the gathering, Khuntia said that the Prime Minister had damaged the agency’s reputation and had rendered it inefficient through his hasty decisions. “There was a rift between a number of IPS officers in CBI and it was caused by Modi’s interference.

The CBI is a reputed agency but the Centre has failed to run it well,” said Khuntia. The detained activists were shifted to Kanchanbagh police station and were let off by the evening.

TJS gets the matchbox as its symbol

The newest member of the grand alliance, Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) was accorded with the matchbox as its election symbol by the Election Commission of India (ECI). The candidates will get to contest with the symbol in the upcoming Assembly elections. In a letter to State CEO on Friday, the ECI made the announcement, which was later confirmed by TJS official spokesperson Venkat Reddy. 

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