Hyderabad: Police placed former minister and BRS MLA Vemula Prashanth Reddy under house arrest on Tuesday when he prepared to attend a urea app protest in Nizamabad district.
Police personnel reached his residence in Banjara Hills and prevented him from leaving. The action came ahead of a farmers’ protest planned in Tadwai mandal of Ellareddy constituency.
Thousands of farmers had made arrangements to participate in the urea app protest under the leadership of Ellareddy BRS in-charge Jajala Surender. The protesters planned to demand the withdrawal of the urea app and restoration of the earlier system.
Urea app protest draws criticism from BRS leaders
Reacting to the development, former minister and senior BRS leader Harish Rao condemned the house arrest of Vemula Prashanth Reddy. He said the MLA was travelling from Hyderabad to participate in the protest programme.
Harish Rao alleged that the state government had failed to ensure adequate urea supply to farmers. He also criticised the government’s actions against opposition leaders and termed the police action undemocratic.
Meanwhile, he said such measures would not suppress public opposition to government policies. He claimed that farmers’ anger would intensify in the coming days.
Harish Rao further demanded the immediate withdrawal of the urea app. He also urged the government to supply sufficient quantities of urea to farmers through the previous distribution system.
The BRS leader reiterated the party’s demand for restoring the earlier mechanism for urea distribution among farmers.