Telangana Police detained the state's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar in Jangaon on Tuesday, 23 August, during his 'padayatra' (foot rally) against the arrest of party workers, who attacked Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's (KCR) daughter and state MLC K Kavitha's residence the previous day.
Bandi Sanjay, who was holding his 'Praja Sangrama Padayatra,' was shifted to a police training centre in Karimnagar amid tight security.
The workers whose arrests he was protesting had held demonstrations outside TRS leader K Kavitha's house on Monday, 22 August, over her alleged involvement in the Delhi liquor policy 'scam.'
The protests by Telangana BJP workers followed BJP MP Parvesh Varma and former MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa's allegations about Kavitha being present in the purported meetings convened by Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia with the liquor mafia, other ministers, and officers.
Sisodia, along with 16 others, is being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for alleged financial lapses in the new liquor policy of the Aam Admi Party-led Delhi government.
Sanjay, who was holding his 'Praja Sangram Padayatra', was forcefully arrested by police, said the BJP leaders. He had rejoined the yatra after Amit Shah’s public meeting in poll-bound Munugode.
Bandi Sanjay Kumar, on August 2, launched the third phase of his Praja Sangrama Yatra from Yadadri.
'People Will Not Forgive TRS': BJP Leaders
Condemning the police action against Bandi Sanjay Kumar, state BJP general secretary G Premender Reddy, in a press release, alleged that the TRS government did not want Kumar's protest to go any further.
The 'padayatra' would resume from where it was disrupted, Reddy said.
He asked the BJP activists to organise peaceful protests across the state on Tuesday evening against the police action.
Further, Union Minister G Kishan Reddy added that "people will not forgive the TRS for stopping such rallies."
"BJP will get the full support of people whenever elections are held," he told news agency ANI.
'You Are Messing With the Wrong People': Kavitha
Meanwhile, Kavitha announced on Monday that she would file a defamation suit against the two BJP leaders for their "baseless claims" about her involvement in the alleged multi-crore liquor policy scam in Delhi.
"The allegations made on me by the BJP and its party people are completely baseless...They have all the agencies in their hands, they can do whatever investigation that is required. We will completely cooperate," she said, according to NDTV.
Kavitha further said that BJP was trying to malign her family's reputation because they were "rattled" by KCR's "vocal and sharp criticism" of the BJP-led Union government.
She will also reportedly move the court seeking an injunction order against those making the allegations.
"You (BJP) are messing with the wrong people," she added.
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