Protest against Sudarshan: Kishen Reddy demands Cabinet's sacking

Bharatiya Janata Party state unit president G Kishen Reddy on Saturday demanded the suspension of the Rosaiah government for violation of the law and participating in a dharna against former Rashtra Swayam Sevak Sangh chief KS Sudarshan on Friday.

Talking to media persons, Mr Kishen Reddy demanded that Chief Minister K Rosaiah should resign from his post for participating in Dharna which took place where Section 144 was in force. This is a blatant violation of law, he said.

The BJP state chief also criticized the police for its failure to register a case against the Chief Minister and the leaders of the Pradesh Congress Committee.

Mr Rosaiah had on Friday led a dharna at Basheer Bagh Crossroads against the former RSS chief to protest against the alleged provocative comments made against AICC president Sonia Gandhi.

The government had declared Basheer Bagh Crossroads area as ‘red zone’ and banned all protest demonstrations there, since it is barely a kilometer away from the state Assembly.

Mr Kishen Reddy’s criticism is an echo of similar reactions by the main opposition Telugu Desam Party.

The dharna was organized by Health Minister Danam Nagender who is City Congress president. Mr Rosaiah had joined the dharna, after an effigy of the former RSS chief was burnt.

The city police had arrested scores of Congress workers and shifted them to nearby police stations, but no Minister or PCC chief D Srinivas were arrested or any cases filed against them.

Police however had arrested MPs V Hanumantha Rao and Anjan Kumar Yadav, Mahila Congress chief Ganga Bhavani, besides three legislators. Cases under Section 151 were booked against these leaders, who were subsequently released.

The BJP was quick to react to the dharna on Friday with former BJP president Venkaiah Naidu blasting out at the Congress leadership for staging protests while it was in office.

The TDP also criticized the protest and said that since the Congress was in power both at the Centre and in the State should have registered cases against Sudarshan.