A car with YSRTP leader Y.S. Sharmila in it was towed away by police here on Tuesday when she was heading towards Chief Minister’s official residence to protest the alleged attack by TRS supporters on her padyatra in Warangal district on Monday.
The YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) leader herself was driving the car and proceeding towards Pragathi Bhavan as a mark of protest against the attack by the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).
Police stopped her on the way. As Sharmila refused to get down from the car, the police called a crane that towed away the vehicle with the YSRTP leader sitting in it.
Sharmila, who is the sister of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, was arrested and taken to S.R. Nagar Police Station.
After reaching the police station, she refused to get down of the car. Police personnel forcibly opened the car door and whisked her away to the police station.
Meanwhile, some YSRTP workers who reached the police station to stage the protest were arrested.
A case was registered against her at Panjagutta Police Station. The case was booked under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), section 333 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt to deter public servant from his duty), and section 327 (voluntarily causing hurt to extort property, or to constrain to an illegal act)
Meanwhile, Sharmila’s mother Y.S. Vijayamma was placed under house arrest by the police as she was leaving for S.R. Nagar Police Station to meet her. The police did not allow Vijayamma to come out of her residence in Jubilee Hills. Vijayamma began a protest at the residence along with her supporters.
She condemned the police behavior with her daughter. She alleged that the state government was trying to snatch the democratic right to raise people’s issues.
Sharmila along with supporters took out the protest march and headed towards the CM’s residence in Begumpet.
When they reached near Yashoda Hospital on Raj Bhavan Road, police stopped them.
The YSRTP workers raised slogans against the ruling party. As they tried to proceed toward the chief minister’s residence, police detained them.
The protest march by YSRTP also included the padyatra bus that was stoned and burnt by the TRS activists on Monday.
Sharmila’s Yatra bus and other vehicles were attacked at Narasmpet in the Warangal district when she was visiting the area as part of her Praja Prasthanam Yatra.
The YSRTP alleged that TRS men went on a rampage indiscriminately attacking the Padayatra, stoning and burning a bus, unleashing filthy language, and tearing down banners and party flags.
The police later arrested Sharmila on the ground that she was continuing the foot march despite their advice to call it off in view of the tense situation in the area.
The police later shifted the YSRTP leader to Hyderabad on Monday night. Addressing a press conference, she made it clear that her yatra and the fight against the TRS atrocities would not stop.
Sharmila added she would not be cowed down by the ‘rowdies and rogues of TRS’ and would march for the sake of 4-crore Telangana people who stood by her.
In continuation of her protest, she began her march towards Pragati Bhavan to “seek an explanation from KCR” and “know if this is part of his governance that those who questioned his government’s failures and tyranny had to be attacked and harmed”.
Some party leaders who also staged a protest at the party’s office in Jubilee Hills were also arrested by the police.
