Telangana Congress workers protesting Farm Bills detained

Naveen S Garewal

Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, September 28

Several senior Telangana Congress leaders were taken in custody during the protest against Farm Bill in Hyderabad on Monday.

The Congress leaders and workers were stopped and detained when they were marching towards the Raj Bhawan to hand over a memorandum to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan.

The party workers though continued to protest against the Bills across the state.

The new AICC in-charge for party affairs in Telangana Manickam Tagore was leading the group that wanted to submit the memorandum to the Governor.

After being taken into custody they were shifted to Goshamahal police station in the city.

The police told them that they cannot move forward because they did not have an appointment with the Governor. The Congress leaders raised slogans against the NDA government at the Centre and the TRS Government in Telangana before being taken away in a van.

State Congress president and MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy said they were not even allowed to hand over the memorandum to any official in the Governor’s office.

He demanded that the Farm Bills be withdrawn as these would push the agriculture sector into crisis and permanently damage the farm economy.

Reddy said: “This is injustice to the principal opposition party which always stood by farmers. This is unfortunate. The Governor, whose duty is to safeguard the Constitution, should have at least allowed us to submit the memorandum.”

Tagore, who is on his first visit to Hyderabad, since his appointment as Congress in-charge, urged the party cadre to actively participate in the ongoing protests over farm legislations throughout the state.