Khammam district in-charge minister Pasupuleti Balaraju and Assembly deputy speaker Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka were annoyed by the police ‘excesses’ during Sri Rama Navami celebrations here on Friday.
Foolproof security arrangements were made at the temple town in the wake of the recent Maoist encounter in Chhattisgarh.
Balaraju arrived at the Kalyanamandapam at Sri Sitaramachandra Swamy temple along with chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy for the celestial wedding but the police did not allow his car to go up to the venue.
They turned down the request of the minister’s personal assistant and advised him to contact the DSP on duty. The DSP too rejected the appeal, citing orders from higher-ups. Enraged, the minister summoned the DSP but the police officer did not budge. Balaraju then got down his car and went to police but the DSP remained firm and told the minister to go to the Kalyanamandapam on foot.
Deputy speaker Vikramarka too faced a similar situation and had to walk down to the Kalyanamandapam along with his wife.
The two VIPs lodged complaints with IG (Warangal Range) Venkateswara Rao over phone and demanded action.
Balaraju said he had never faced such humiliation and said he would lodge a complaint with the Assembly speakerA and the chief minister. TTD executive officer LV Subrahmanyam too had a bitter taste of the police security but the situation was retrieved with the intervention of TTD chief Kanumuri Bapiraju.