Telangana Congress leader SA Sampat detained & arrested over 'Jal Deeksha' programme

Congress leader and former MLA SA Sampat Kumar was detained by the police at his residence in Shanti Nagar in Vaddepalli Mandal on Tuesday which was also the Telangana State Formation Day. He was then shifted him to Maldakal police station. This comes as the Congress party had planned a 'Jal Deeksha' programme as a mark of protest and to inspect the ongoing work at the irrigation projects. Sampat Kumar warned the K Chandrashekar Rao led Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) that their 'Jal Deeksha' will continue and nobody can stop them.

State Congress president and Lok Sabha member N Uttam Kumar Reddy claimed that he and his party leaders were illegally detained by police. 

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"Myself, K Venkat Reddy, MP, and K Jana Reddy, former Home Minister, were illegally detained by police... I was told that other Congress leaders across the state were also illegally detained," Uttam Kumar Reddy said.

A senior police official said they were detained as lockdown norms stipulated that large gatherings or political meetings will not be allowed.

Later, Congress leaders staged a sit-in protest at the residence of Rammohan Reddy but they were not allowed there which lead to verbal brawl and scuffle between both groups. They were detained and taken to Changomul police station.

The Jal Deeksha programme was planned by the state unit of Congress party to highlight their allegation that TRS government in the state did not take up works of various irrigation projects which were sanctioned during Congress rule before state formation.

The state Congress president alleged that the TRS government has not completed projects started before 2014 (prior to the formation of Telangana) during the then Congress regime. 

Telangana, which came into existence on June 2, 2014, celebrated its formation day on Tuesday.

(With inputs from agencies)

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