BJP’s top brass, including city president and MLC N. Ramchander Rao, were put under house arrest while other senior leaders were detained at police station as police tried to thwart the party's efforts to take up protests against the police raids on Dubbaka candidate M. Raghunandan Rao's house on Tuesday.
While party president Bandi Sanjay Kumar continued his fast at his house at Karimnagar, party leader G. Manohar Reddy was arrested at the Saidabad police station. Police personnel also surrounded Nizamabad MP D. Aravind’s house to prevent him from coming out.
A delegation of the party leadership including N. Indrasena Reddy is scheduled to meet the Chief Electoral Officer later in the day and lodge an official complaint against the police. Siddipet district collector Venkatrami Reddy has already been shifted following charges of "misuse" of official machinery and Mancherial collector Bharati Hollekeri given his charges.
Senior leaders like national BC morcha president K. Laxman, former MP Vivek Venkataswamy, D.K. Aruna, Babu Mohan and others strongly criticised the police action against the party leaders. It only reflected the Government's fear of losing the byelection, they observed.
Chief spokesperson Krishnasagaar Rao has denounced the "highhanded behaviour" of the police towards Mr. Sanjay Kumar and others. "If the police had any grounds for his arrest, they could have very well done it without using force. The videos on social media clearly show excessive force used by police", he said.
Mr. Rao asked if the police were acting independently or with the permission of the Election Commission. The level playing field is missing in the current campaign and hence, the CEO should look into the matter, he added.