Hyderabad: Congress leaders and activists staged widespread protests across Telangana on Friday, burning the effigies of BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao following his controversial remarks against women availing the free bus travel scheme.
At Charminar, the protest was led by Hyderabad District Congress Committee (DCC) president Mohammed Waliullah Sameer. Protesters demanded that Rama Rao issue a public apology for his remarks, which referenced "break dances" and "recording dances" on buses, a comment seen as trivialising women who availed the free bus travel scheme.
Sameer said Rama Rao's statements were reflective of a "narrow-minded and cheap approach towards women." He urged the women to stand against such attitudes and hold their leaders accountable.
In Maheshwaram, Rangareddy District Congress president Challa Narasimha Reddy and former MLA Teegala Krishna Reddy led a protest, burning an effigy of Rama Rao and calling for an immediate retraction of his remarks. They accused the BRS working president of trying to undermine the Congress government's welfare initiatives, which include the free bus travel scheme for women.
At Dilsukhnagar, Telangana State Road Development Corporation chairman Mal Reddy Ram Reddy led a protest, expressing his anger at Rama Rao's comments. He questioned whether the former minister's family would approve of such remarks against women and warned that if Rama Rao did not apologise, further protests would be organised.
Protests were also reported from Suryapet and Warangal, where effigies of Rama Rao were burnt, and Congress leaders expressed their outrage. Warangal District Congress Committee President Errabelli Swarna led the protest in her district, demanding that Rama Rao apologise to the women of Telangana.
In Nalgonda, DCC president Ketawat Shankar Naik accused the BRS leadership of failing to digest the success of the Congress government's welfare schemes and warned that the people of Telangana would not tolerate insults to women.
