Hyderabad: Police placed senior BRS leaders under house arrest after the opposition party called for a Sanath Nagar TIMS visit to inspect the hospital. Former ministers T. Harish Rao, Sabitha Indra Reddy and Talasani Srinivas Yadav were among the leaders placed under house arrest.
Police also took several other BRS leaders into preventive custody and stopped them from proceeding to the hospital. The police action followed the BRS leadership’s call to visit the TIMS hospital at Sanath Nagar.
Meanwhile, BRS leaders alleged that police denied them permission for the visit and forcibly prevented party representatives from reaching the hospital. Police deployed personnel in large numbers outside Harish Rao’s residence at Kokapet to prevent him from proceeding to Sanath Nagar.
LB Nagar MLA Sudheer Reddy reached Harish Rao’s residence after learning about the former minister’s house arrest. Subsequently, tension prevailed around the residence amid the heavy police deployment and arrival of BRS leaders.
Party sources alleged that police had acted forcefully while stopping leaders from undertaking the Sanath Nagar TIMS visit. The preventive action also affected other party leaders who had planned to participate in the hospital inspection.
Harish Rao attacks government over house arrests
Harish Rao strongly criticised the house arrests and preventive detentions. He alleged that the Congress government had ordered the police action because it feared exposure of government failures and shortcomings in hospitals.
The former minister said placing opposition leaders under house arrest for raising public issues was unacceptable. He accused the government of imposing what he described as an “undeclared emergency” through police restrictions.
Harish Rao further alleged that the government was attempting to silence opposition voices through detentions and house arrests. The BRS leader linked the police action directly to the party’s proposed Sanath Nagar TIMS visit.
He maintained that opposition leaders had sought to raise issues concerning the hospital but were prevented from reaching the facility.