HYDERABAD: Serilingampally TRS MLA Arekapudi Gandhi said those who have come here from Pakistan, Rajasthan or any other place would not be sent back at any cost. Addressing a group of Muslims who called on him on Thursday, he said anyone who resides in Telangana, even if they are from Pakistan, belongs here. He asked them not to worry over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) as the TRS government opposed it.
“No one will be sent back to their ancestral place as long as I am alive,” Gandhi said. He assured them that the Telangana government would never trouble its people by asking them leave India and asked them to reach out to TRS leaders if they faced any issue because of the CAA.
Pointing out that the BJP leaders were going around Serilingampally segment conducting an ‘internal survey’ on CAA, he urged the people to send them back if they tried to interact with them. A video of Gandhi addressing the Muslims went viral on social media on Thursday. When contacted, Gandhi told Express that he tried to instil confidence among Muslims giving them certain assurances. He said they mistook a survey being conducted on adult education as NRC survey. “That’s why they called on me,” he added. Speaking on people taking objection to his Pakistan comment, he said some thought I only talked about Pakistan, but my statement was general in nature.
Meanwhile, BJP convenor in Serilingampally P Butchi Reddy and other party leaders lodged a complaint against Gandhi with Kukatpally police for his controversial remarks. They alleged that the TRS MLA was trying to create communal discord among people. They requested the police take against Gandhi under sedition laws. Gandhi’s statement was a clear instance of misleading the innocent minority community by creating false fear in them, the BJP leaders alleged. When contacted, Kukatpally CI B Laxminarayana Reddy said they are taking legal opinion on the complaint.