Hyderabad: Tensions flared in the city as Telangana BJP State President N. Ramachandra Rao was placed under house arrest early Tuesday morning, sparking a political storm. The police action comes ahead of a planned Kumkummarchana program by Hindu groups at the demolished Peddamma Temple site in Banjara Hills.  

Rao claimed that the police arrived at his residence and informed him of the house arrest, linking it to the Peddamma Temple demolition and subsequent demands for its reconstruction. “I'm surprised that I'm being arrested for Hindu organisations' programmes. The Congress government is suppressing Hindu religious activities,” Rao said, condemning the move. He added that several BJP corporators in Hyderabad were also detained.  

Union Minister Bandi Sanjay slams Congress

Hearing the news of the house arrest of Rao, Union Minister of Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar, who is busy with the Parliament session in Delhi, condemned and accused the Congress government of hatching a conspiracy for the votes of a particular community in the Jubilee Hills bye-election.

The union home minister said Rao was taken into house custody though he has no scheduled programme to visit Peddamma temple in Banjara Hills to attend the Kumkumarcha ceremony organised by Hindu organisations  in the temple.  He described the arrest as a "foolish" act of the state government and questioned what is wrong with Hindus going to the Peddamma temple.

The BJP alleges a Congress conspiracy to curb Hindu rights, while the ruling party maintains that the arrests were preventive, citing law and order concerns. 

In a separate statement, state party official spokesperson and media in-charge N V Subhash criticised the Congress government’s act and demanded the immediate release of the party chief. Preventing participation in "Ghar Ghar Tiranga” is a direct attack on democracy.

He said that under the previous BRS government regime, we have also witnessed a number of such incidents, and the KCR government tried to gag voices of opposition by arresting them illegally, and the Congress government is also following the same path. The people of Telangana have taught a lesson to the BRS and rejected that party, and they will teach the same lesson to the Revanth Reddy government in the coming days, he said.