Hyderabad: Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya on Sunday said he felt “insulted” when he along and his wife had gone to the Mahankali temple in Secunderabad for Bonalu as the police did not allow his vehicle to drive up to the temple.
While Mr Dattatreya did not make it an issue, the people around him said the police had acted in a highhanded manner and had not followed protocol.
They said after the police denied permission, Mr Dattatreya walked almost 500 metres to the temple and had darshan of the goddess.
First day of Bonalu festival at Ujjaini Mahankali temple at Secunderabad ended peacefully with the participation of a large number of people from all over the city. Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan, minister Talasani, MP K. Kavitha and many others were seen at the temple.
K. Shobha Rao, wife of CM KCR, at the Bonalu festival.
Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav with family and others at Bonalu festival at Ujjaini Mahankali Temple in secunderabad. — DCMr Dattatreya reached the area at about 7.30 am and conveyed to the police that he should rush to the airport and catch a flight to Tirupati to attend a function and that his wife was suffering from arthritis and could not walk the distance. His vehicle was not allowed through.
When contacted North Zone DCP B. Sumathi said a communication gap led to the incident.
“Mr Dattatreya is on the VVIP protocol as Union minister and we passed clear instructions to our staff to allow all VVIP vehicles to drive to the temple, but there seems to be a communication gap which was not intentional,” she said.
She said Mr Dattatreya had cooperated with the police and had not make it an issue. “I spoke to the minister and expre-ssed regrets for what happened,” she said.
However, an aide said the minister was annoyed.
