HYDERABAD: Taking serious exception to Finance Minister T Harish Rao asking Congress senior leader Rahul Gandhi to explain what the Grand Old Party has done for farmers, TPCC president A Revanth Reddy on Thursday posed a counter-question to Rao to explain why he and the Chief Minister were unable to move without police protection if they were really the darlings of farmers.
Revanth said that Harish does not have the ken to understand what Congress had done for farmers.
“He neither has the stature nor station to call Rahul to account. He should explain why police personnel were going to agricultural fields and arresting farmers in Metpally, just before his visit to the area,” Revanth tweeted.
He also posted pictures of farmers standing in front of Metpalli police station after their arrest.
Later, Revanth led a delegation of Congress leaders to the DGP seeking permission for the interaction of Rahul Gandhi with the 18 NSUI activists lodged in Chanchalguda prison on Saturday. Speaking to the media, Revanth revealed that the DGP had said that he needed time before he could make a decision on their representation.
The TPCC chief said that the CMO was interfering in the functioning of the police department. “If the Congress had acted this way in the past, Telangana state would not have come into being,” he said and pointed out that regardless of DGP giving permission, Rahul would visit the prisoners as it was a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution.
Earlier in the day, after releasing a video on Rythu Sangharshana Sabha to be addressed by Rahul in Warangal on Saturday, Revanth alleged that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s family was involved in corruption of hundreds of crores of rupees in the construction of Yadadri temple. He targeted the State government for not being able to spend `200 crore on the construction of a memorial for Telangana martyrs.
NSUI students arrested
Meanwhile, student activists from NSUI and OUJAC, who tried to protest at Pragathi Bhavan on Thursday morning, were prevented from doing so by the police. They raised slogans against the State government, demanding permission for Rahul to visit Osmania University and interact with the students on Saturday, which was denied by the Vice-Chancellor of the university.
A group of student activists also tried to hold a protest in front of the Arts College at Osmania University campus. They too were arrested and shifted to the police station to be released later. The student activists said that it was shameful the way the Vice-Chancellor of an autonomous university had become a puppet in the hands of the State government.