Congress leaders go berserk during 'Chalo Raj Bhavan'

Hyderabad: The 'Chalo Raj Bhavan' call given by the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) protesting questioning of AICC leader Rahul Gandhi by the Enforcement Directorate for the past three days has turned violent here on Thursday as Congress workers broke the window panes of TSRTC buses and also set ablaze a two-wheeler.

Tension prevailed for more than two hours at the busy Khairatabad junction when Congress senior leader Renuka Chowdary grabbed the shirt of a police official and CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka pushed a senior police official in the melee between the police and Congress workers.

Taking serious note of the incident, the police booked a case against Renuka Chowdary. However, she tendered apology for the rude behaviour with the police official. Bhatti Vikramarka also pushed senior police officials when he was surrounded by cops and arrested him.

Telangana Women Congress president Sunitha Rao and her party workers also tried to hold a flash dharna and the alerted police bundled them into police vans and shifted them to different police stations in the city.

Trouble began in the morning at Raj Bhavan when NSUI activists staged a flash strike at the Governor's office. Soon after they were arrested, a group of Youth Congress leaders also tried to stage a sit-in before Raj Bhavan. Police foiled their attempt.

Later, the TPCC leaders started arriving in groups to hold a big rally to Raj Bhavan. The police tried to prevent them. The instigated party workers torched a motorbike and smashed the windows of buses. The party workers climbed atop the buses and chanted slogans against Prime minister Narendra Modi's government.

TPCC president Revanth Reddy staged a dharna at the junction. The police resorted to lathi-charge and shifted Revanth and working president Jagga Reddy to a police station.

Revanth alleged that the Modi government had foisted ED cases against Congress leaders to divert the attention of the people from the Centre's failures and to threaten Opposition parties and force them to fall in line.

The TPCC chief demanded unconditional release of all arrested Congress workers immediately. He called upon the party workers and leaders to hold dharnas before Union government offices in all the district headquarters on Friday.