HYDERABAD: Tension prevailed at Dharna Chowk on Friday as Congress leaders pressed on with their ‘Chalo Raj Bhavan’ rally despite police permission.
The rally was staged against the spiralling prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas. Police detained Congress leaders, including TPCC chief A Revanth Reddy, and shifted them to the police station.
However, some Congress workers kept the police on their toes as they managed to reach Raj Bhavan to affix their party flag to the main entrance gate. Some other leaders were kept under house arrest.
Several Congress leaders held a protest gathering at Dharna Chowk. Present among them were NS Boseraju, Madhu Yashki Goud, Damodar Raja Narasimha, Maheshwar Reddy, Anjan Kumar Yadav, Geetha Reddy, T Jayaprakash Reddy, Dansari Anasuya, and others.
Addressing the gathering, Revanth said that the AICC had called for protests against the Modi government imposing taxes worth Rs 36 lakh crore on petrol and diesel. The State and Central governments combined had burdened each citizen with a debt of Rs 5 lakh, he said.
Stating that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s relatives were applying for citizenship in other countries, Revanth said, “Intelligence IG Prabhakar Rao maintains a private sainyam (army) to keep a tab on Congress leaders. Let me suggest that he should also try to seek asylum elsewhere before KCR’s rule ends because the Congress will come to power and expose him.” Meanwhile, police erected barricades at Dharna Chowk preventing the movement of protesters.