Congress leaders arrested ahead of Modi’s visit

HYDERABAD: Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to Hyderabad, the police arrested several Congress leaders as a preventive measure on Saturday. All India Congress Committee (AICC) former secretary S.A. Sampath Kumar was house-arrested as he tried to participate in protest programmes against Modi’s visit.

The Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti (MRPS) called for a Sadak Bandh (road blockade) to protest against the BJP for not fulfilling its promise of categorisation of Scheduled Castes. Sampath Kumar and other senior leaders decided to participate in the MRPS protest, but the Shanthinagar police house arrested him.

Meanwhile, the police arrested Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) working president M. Anjan Kumar Yadav at PVNR Marg, when he staged a protest for tying BJP and TRS flags to the statue of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He was shifted to the Nampally police station. TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy rushed to the Nampally police station and interacted with Anjan Kumar Yadav and other Congress activists.

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation member P. Vijaya Reddy, Youth Congress state president Shivasena Reddy and other leaders were also taken into custody by the police. Youth Congress activists tried to besiege the HICC but the police took them into custody and shifted to the Bachupally police station. Revanth Reddy strongly condemned the arrests of Congress leaders. “It is the right of political parties to stage protests, but the police spoiled it,” he said.