Telangana: BJP furious over 14-day remand of state party chief, calls it 'undemocratic'

In a massive development, the Telangana Police took state BJP President Bandi Sanjay Kumar into 14 days of police remand on Monday after arresting him on Sunday evening. Kumar was arrested from his office by Karimnagar police while extending his support to a protest. Following the arrest, Union Minister G Kishan Reddy has now hit out at the state government. Several BJP leaders have also launched attacks on the K Chandrashekar Rao led government and its police.

Reacting to the arrest, Kishan Reddy said that the action was politically motivated and claimed it was ‘undemocratic’. “The arrest of Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay is politically motivated and completely undemocratic. He was protesting peacefully in his office following all the COVID protocols. Police forcibly entered the office and arrested him,” the minister said.

Bandi Sanjay was taken into custody by police in the late hours on Dec 2 from his office, while he was holding a protest demanding the resolution of teachers’ problems in the state. He was booked along with five others under sections 188, 332, 333, 149, 147 of the IPC and Disaster Management Act. However, several BJP leaders have since come out to slam the arrest and claimed that the state party chief had followed all COVID protocols during the protest.  

BJP's Bandi Sanjay taken into 14 days police custody after arrest

While condemning the arrest of the senior BJP leader, the saffron party's National President, JP Nadda condemned the arrest and called it 'murder of democracy.' "The arrest of Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay is highly condemnable and amounts to the murder of democracy. He was peacefully staging a protest following all COVID protocols in his office. Police forcibly entered his office & manhandled him," said JP Nadda.

He also claimed that the Telangana police barged violently into the office of the BJP state president, where he was protesting peacefully from his office, following the COVID protocols. The Police had manhandled him and dragged him out of his office, just for extending his support to the protesting teachers of government schools, JP Nadda said in a video. V Muraleedharan, Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs, BJP leader N Ramchander Rao also attacked the state government over the arrest of the Telangana chief.

Image: PTI/ Twitter