BJP protest triggers tension in Telangana’s Nirmal town

Hyderabad, Aug 20 (IANS) Protests by BJP workers in Telangana’s Nirmal town on Sunday triggered tension as the police carried out a baton charge to disperse the agitators trying to lay siege to Forest Minister A. Indrakaran Reddy’s house.

The party had called for a protest in support of its leader Aleti Maheshwar Reddy, whose indefinite hunger strike entered the fifth day. He is demanding that the Master Plan released by the Nirmal Municipality be scrapped.

Scores of BJP workers came on to streets to stage a protest, demanding the authorities to respond to Maheshwar Reddy’s hunger strike. They sat on the road and also tried to lay siege to the houses of minister Indrakaran Reddy and the district Superintendent of Police.

Police had to use force to disperse the protestors. Some protestors were arrested.

The protest triggered tension in the town. Shops and business establishments were shut down in some areas.

Additional police forces were being rushed to the town as a precautionary measure. Tension also prevailed at Maheshwar Reddy’s house, where he continued his hunger strike. As his condition started deteriorating, police personnel were deployed in large numbers in the area. Police are likely to forcibly shift him to hospital.

Earlier, police stopped BJP national Vice President D.K. Aruna and Nizamabad MP D. Arvind in Nizamabad when they were heading to Nirmal to show solidarity with Maheshwar Reddy.

Aruna and Arvind raised an objection to the police action and had a heated argument with the police officers. The police told them that there is no permission for visiting Nirmal.

Several BJP leaders and workers reached there in support of their support. Union minister and state BJP president G. Kishan Reddy has condemned the police baton charge on party workers. He told media persons in Hyderabad that the state government and ministers were indulging in illegal activities for real estate business.

Kishan Reddy alleged that Indrakaran Reddy allotted hundreds of acres to his relatives and those close to him. Maheshwar Reddy, who is on hunger strike in Nirmal, alleged that the leaders of ruling BRS were making crores from real estate ventures through changes in land use laws. He alleged that the master plan was poorly designed and affected the interests of the farmers. He said that in the name of land acquisition, the lands are being sold to industrialists.