Police stop BJP workers from hoisting tricolour at Golconda

Hyderabad: Mild tension prevailed near the Golconda Fort here on Tuesday as scores of BJP workers were taken into preventive custody when they attempted to hoist the national flag at the monument, police said.

The activists attempted to hoist the tricolour as part of their demand to celebrate Telangana Liberation Day officially on September 17.

Police foiled the attempt by BJP workers and many of them, including BJP Telangana state party chief G Kishan Reddy, were taken into preventive custody from different locations, Golconda Police Station SHO Mohd Munawar said.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) authorities and government officials had denied permission to BJP to hoist the national flag at the fort, police officials said.

The saffron party has been demanding that Telangana government should officially celebrate the Telangana Liberation Day on September 17.

However, the government had not conceded their demand.

In view of it, the BJP had planned to organise the celebrations at Golconda Fort where Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had hoisted the tricolour on Independence Day this year.

As BJP workers tried to force their way into the Golconda Fort, police personnel immediately intervened and packed them off in vehicles and took them to nearby police stations.

Elaborate security arrangements were made near the fort as another group of BJP activists was marching from Bapu Ghat towards the fort even as shops in the vicinity remained shut.

DCP (West Zone) V Satyanarayana said that the ASI officials had refused permission for holding any such programme and had requested the police to beef up security to maintain peace in the area.

"Arrangements have been made to prevent any untoward incidents and to maintain peace," he said. The erstwhile Hyderabad State was merged with Indian Union on September 17, 1948.