Former Minister T. Harish Rao was arrested by the police for supporting the protest of former sarpanches. The former minister along with BRS leaders resorted to protests on Tirumalagiri Road in support of the former sarpanches. The police immediately reached there and arrested Harish along with the BRS leaders and took them to the police station.
With this, Harish Rao sat in front of the police station and protested. Speaking on the occasion, he said that arresting and detaining former sarpanches is a wicked act. He said that arresting former sarpanches like arresting thieves and terrorists in the middle of the night is a heinous act.
He said that the Congress government is taking steps to create division among sarpanches. He said that they have taken loans and sold the gold of their wives and children and done work. He was angry that the government was playing dumb when they asked to pay pending bills.
Harish Rao said that the sarpanches have worked a lot for the development of villages under the leadership of KCR. He said that Telangana has become familiar with the best villages. He said that the role of sarpanches is crucial if the Prime Minister has won awards and panchayat awards.
He expressed anger over why Chief Minister Revanth Reddy is punishing sarpanches who have done good work. He said that they are paying bills to big contractors, bills worth hundreds of crores. But he questioned whether poor sarpanches should be punished for the sins of doing work? He said that it has been 10 months since the government came…not even ten lakh bills have been paid to them.
He said that they have come to Hyderabad four or five times and made a fuss. He demanded that the Chief Minister or the Panchayat Minister call the sarpanches for discussions and immediately clear their pending bills.
“You say that Musi will be repaired with Rs. 1.5 lakh crores. But why are you punishing sarpanches who have developed the villages a lot? Arresting sarpanches is not a solution, they are tapping the phones of sarpanches and taking the list of terrorists to the police stations”, he alleged.
