HYDERABAD: Telangana BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar was forcefully arrested by police from his residence in Karimnagar town on Tuesday midnight, and has been lodged in Bommalaramaram police station in Yadadri-Bhuvanagiri district.
Sanjay was supposed to hold a press meet at 9 30 am on Wednesday to speak about the question paper leaks which have rocked not only the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) but also the board of secondary education.
BJP has called for state-wide protests against what the party leaders are calling an 'illegal arrest.'
Even as Sanjay asked the police why they were arresting him, they informed him that it was only a preventive arrest.
Sanjay tweeted shortly after his arrest writing his "only mistake" was questioning the BRS government on its "wrongdoings."
BJP national organising secretary BL Santhosh tweeted saying, "Rattled, riddled with corruption charges, facing electoral reverses @BRSparty & its leadership is a sinking boat. They have touched a raw nerve by arresting @BJP4Telangana State President & MP @bandisanjay_bjp. This will be the last nail on their political existence."
Sanjay's wife Aparna said that he had come to hold the 10th-day ceremony of her mother's demise, and that police told her that there were orders from the commissioner to arrest him.
She said that the police personnel dragged those who tried to prevent the arrest and took him away.
When BJP MLA M Raghunandan Rao went to Bommalaramaram police station to meet Sanjay on Wednesday morning, he was stopped a couple of kilometres away from the police station and was manhandled by the police and taken into custody.
Speaking with the media before his arrest, Raghunandan said that there was a procedure to be followed while arresting a sitting parliament MP and that it was an illegal arrest.
BJP MLA T Raja Singh, in a video message, said that the State government was tense after Sanjay started exposing it with regard to the question papers' leaks.
"They have done the same in the past putting him in jail. Sanjay will keep raising his voice against the government again. The people are with him. If the SSC question papers have been leaked on WhatsApp, then they can investigate it. But trying to silence the voices will not be tolerated," he cautioned.
As per sources, paperwork was being prepared to remand him as of Wednesday morning.