KURNOOL: Mild tension prevailed at Kurnool collectorate when police took BJP leaders, including the party state president Somu Veerraju into preventive custody, for staging a protest against the restrictions imposed by the government on Vinayaka Chaviti celebrations.
BJP activists staged a dharna at Rajvihar circle in Kurnool demanding withdrawal of the restrictions imposed on the festival. When they tried to meet the district collector to give a memorandum at the collector’s camp office, police stopped them, leading to a minor scuffle. Police took at least 50 activists including Somu Veerraju, state general secretary Vishnu Vardhan Reddy and shifted them to various police stations.Veerraju alleged there was a systematic plan to wean Hindus away from their customs and traditions.
BJP dharna today
The BJP state unit has called for demonstrations in front of the offices of collectors, sub-collectors and Revenue Divisional Officers across the 13 districts on Monday, demanding permission for celebrating Vinayaka Chavithi as groups in the public. The party has also condemned the “arrests” of Veerraju, national secretary Y Satyakumar and others in Kurnool and demanded their immediate release.It alleged that the decision was anti-Hindu and demanded that the government drop the decision to restrict the festival celebrations indoors.