Hyderabad: Leaders of Opposition in the Legislative Council and Assembly Mohd. Ali Shabbir and K. Jana Reddy were arrested by Medak police at Ontimamidi on the Rajiv Rahadari when they were going to meet the people displaced by the Mallannasagar project. The two, along with other Congress leaders and workers, planned to meet the displaced persons of Kondapaka and Toguta mandal.
Police in the past have foiled similar attempt at Gandhi Bhavan leading to protests by Congress leaders. Congress, TD, BJP and the Left parties have been demanding adequate compensation for the farmers displaced by the project, even as irrigation minister T. Harish Rao continued his efforts to convince farmers to part with their lands. TPCC working president Bhatti Vikramarka alleged that the police took the arrested Congress leaders to various police stations in a bid to harass them.
“They are picking up party leaders before Medak border? Is Medak a prohibited area? TRS government is scared of the truth coming out,” he said. Elsewhere, the pro-Mallannasagar Rythu Parirakshana Samiti flayed the Opposition, accusing it of trying to stall the project which it says would benefit a large number of farmers.
