HYDERABAD: In what has turned out to be a win-win situation, BJP president JP Nadda had his way in paying tributes to Mahatma Gandhi while the Hyderabad police managed to prevent him from taking out what was described as a peace rally in Hyderabad on Tuesday.
The saffron party proposed the rally to protest against the arrest of its state unit president Bandi Sanjay Kumar in Karimnagar on Sunday.
As soon as Nadda landed at Hyderabad airport, the police informed him that he cannot take out a rally since curbs were in place due to rising Covid-19 cases. They also served him notices stating that they cannot allow him to lead a rally, to which the BJP leader said he would follow all Covid-19 protocols and that the police had no power to usurp his democratic right. He also found fault with them for serving him notices even before he began his visit to Mahatma Gandhi statue.
Peace reigns as drama fizzles out at MG Road
Even as Nadda was speaking to the police, a huge crowd gathered at the airport and also at Mahatma Gandhi statue in Secunderabad. But the police appeared more interested in preventing Nadda from visiting Secunderabad rather than dispersing crowds, a situation that provides an ideal breeding ground for Covid-19 virus to thrive and spread. The police did not lift a finger to ask the crowd to disperse from there as a result of which, crowds kept swelling at Secunderabad even before the BJP chief arrived at the statue.
With Nadda not hinting at what he thought about the rally, there was apprehension everywhere that the police might do another Karimnagar, where they came under fire for the methods they used to arrest Bandi Sanjay while he was on a deeskha against GO 317 on transfers of teachers and employees.
When a reporter asked what would he do if the police arrest him, he said let them do it first, which made people wonder if there was going to be a showdown. As the convoy of Nadda’s cars moved on from the airport, more number of police forces were deployed at Mahatma Gandhi statue and along the route through which the rally was proposed to go through, to prevent Nadda, in case he decides to defy police orders and lead the procession.
Tension peaked as he arrived in Secunderabad where he paid floral tributes to Mahatma Gandhi and then raised slogan, Bharat Matha Ki Jai several times and then left for party office in Nampally as Union minister G Kishan Reddy announced that the rally was off keeping in view the prevailing pandemic.
In fact, speaking to the media at the airport, Nadda said that he would follow all Covid-19 prevention norms while visiting the statue and later he said he did what he had said -- helping the state in curbing the spread of Covid-19. Besides Kishan Reddy, Nadda was also accompanied by K Laxman, MLAs Raja Singh, Eatala Rajender and M Raghunandan Rao.
Later speaking to the media at Nampally, Nadda described Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao as a man who had lost his mental balance after the defeat of TRS in Dubbaka and Huzurabad polls. “KCR has lost his sense of proportion,” he said, adding that the TRS chief was emerging as the most corrupt CM.
“Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme’s original estimate of Rs 36,000 crore had been revised to Rs 1.2 lakh crore. The project has become an ATM for KCR,” he said and pointed out that it has delivered water only to KCR’s farmhouse. Nadda declared that the party would wage a ‘dharam yuddh’ to dethrone KCR’s corrupt, dictatorial and dynastic rule using democratic methods. The state government is using Covid as an excuse to suppress people’s dissent, he said.