SIDDIPET: Tension prevailed during the BJP’s Chalo Collectorate rally on Friday, with police detaining several leaders and party workers. The party was staging a protest against Siddipet District Collector P Venkatram Reddy’s remarks that shops of seed dealers would be closed if they sold paddy seeds to farmers.
Dubbaka MLA M Raghunandan Rao, who had lodged a complaint with the Chief Justice of India seeking action against the Collector on Thursday, called for the Chalo Collectorate protest on Friday. The police, however, began detaining many BJP workers and placing a few others under house arrest on Thursday night to foil the agitation. Raghunandan Rao was one of the leaders who was placed under house arrest. The police arrested about 50 party leaders in Dubbaka, Mirdoddi and Siddipet towns and relocated them to various police stations.
Moreover, the police had put in place stringent security arrangements to prevent the BJP workers from reaching the Collectorate. Despite that, around 50 to 100 activists tried to lay seige to the office in the afternoon, which flared up tensions. The arrested workers were released on bail the same evening.