TRS MLAs Protest At Jana Reddy House

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) demanded that the state government stop using the Preventive Detention Act against Telangana leaders and activists.

TRS MLAs led by floor leader Eetela Rajender staged a dharna before Panchayat Raj Minister K Jana Reddy's residence at Banjara Hills on Sunday demanding that he impress upon the state government to withdraw cases booked under the PD Act.

The TRS MLAs including T Harish Rao, Nallala Oderu, A Ravinder Reddy and Koppulu Eshwar staged a dharna for about 20 minutes raising slogans against the government and police excesses.

However, Jana Reddy came out and took the TRS legislators inside his residence for discussions.

The minister discussed the issue with the TRS leaders for about half-an-hour.

Later, talking to reporters, Eetala Rajender said that the minister had assured he would take up the matter to ensure that the P D Act is not misused in all 10 districts.

The minister further assured that efforts would be made to ensure withdrawal of cases booked under the Act, Eetela said.

Eetela said that the TRS' statehood agitation has been going on for the last 11 years, and that the party had never resorted to any undemocratic or violent means. Although several protests were held during the regimes of N Chandrababu Naidu, Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and K Rosaiah, none of them misused the law - however, the Kiran Kumar Reddy government has been using coercive methods to suppress the agitation, he added.

TRS MLA Harish Rao said that Jana Reddy spoke to Home Minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy in their presence and assured them that he would speak to the Chief Minister and also Chief Secretary Pankaj Dwivedi to ensure that P D Act is not used again against Telangana activists.

Jana Reddy said that the state government would never register false cases against anyone, but that, however, sometimes extreme steps are taken to ensure law and order

He assured that he would take up the matter seriously and ensure that the laws are not misused against anyone. (INN)