Arekepudi with scores of supporters tries to storm Kaushik Reddy's house

Hyderabad: A day-long high political drama was witnessed on Thursday with challenges between the BRS MLAs P Kaushik Reddy and Arekepudi Gandhi, who had joined the Congress recently. The incident resulted in the arrest of both the Congress and BRS leaders in the evening.

Reddy was kept under house arrest after he announced to go to the residence of the Serilingampally MLA. In response, Gandhi, along with his followers, thronged Reddy’s residence, leading to a tense situation. When the BRS approached the Cyberabad police, cases were booked against Gandhi.

It all started with Reddy announcing that he would go to Gandhi’s residence to offer him the pink scarf and invite him to Telangana Bhavan after the latter said that he did not join the Congress and he was still in the BRS.

Alleging that Reddy was a ‘broker’, Gandhi dared him to come. Reddy was kept under house arrest by the police as a large number of personnel were seen outside his residence.

In the meantime, Gandhi, along with his convoy of followers, rushed towards Reddy’s residence at Kondapur. His followers hurled tomatoes and eggs at the house, which led to a tense situation in the city. The police present at Reddy’s residence arrested Gandhi and shifted him to the nearest police station. The police arrested 19 persons, including four corporators, involved in the attack.

Senior BRS leader T Harish Rao entered the scene and condemned the attack by the Congress activists. Rao, along with city MLAs and leaders, reached Kondapur. Speaking to the media, he asked whether this was the Indiramma rule.

“While our MLA was kept under house arrest, the turncoat MLA was allowed to come with an escort and pilot vehicles. There was an attack on my office in Siddipet. When relief measures were taken up in Khammam, our party leaders were attacked. The attack was carried out at the behest of CM Revanth Reddy. The ACP and the CI should be suspended immediately,” demanded Rao.

Later, the BRS leaders reached the Cyberabad Police Commissioner’s office and threatened to stage a dharna until cases were booked against Gandhi and other Congress activists. The police showed FIRs to the leaders, but they demanded an attempt to murder case against the Serilingampally MLA. With BRS leaders not relenting, the police arrested the BRS leaders and shifted them towards Kalwakurthy.