HC allows continuation of Telangana BJP chief Bandi's padayatra

The Telangana High Court Thursday allowed the continuation of Prajasangrama Yatra, the foot march of state BJP chief Bandi Sanjay.

On Tuesday, the state police served a notice to Bandi asking him to stop his ongoing march, stating disturbances and that he had been giving provocative statements during the march. Bandi was also detained at Jangaon and later released when he attempted to sit on a protest. The HC has reportedly struck down the notice given by an ACP of the Warangal police commissionerate.

Following the order, Bandi said that he would continue the third phase yatra presently passing through west Telangana from Friday morning.

“The judgment is a slap on the face of CM K Chandrasekhar Rao who sought to divert the people’s attention from the Delhi liquor scam involving his family members. Sanjay reiterated his allegation that “KCR had conspired to engineer communal riots in Hyderabad and shift the blame onto the BJP, ” Bandi said. “There were no communal riots when the centre took bold decisions like the abolition of Article 370, scrapping of Triple Talaq and construction of Ram Mandir at Ayodhya. People should understand why there are communal riots now in the old city,” he added.

Bandi said the invitation extended to stand-up comedian Munwar Farooqui, who made disparaging comments against Lord Ram and Sita, to Hyderabad was part of the conspiracy hatched by the chief minister in collusion with the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).

“This was the root cause of the communal troubles in Hyderabad, which KCR wanted to use for political mileage by blaming the BJP,” Sanjay said and appealed to the people to maintain restraint and not fall prey to the wily tactics of the chief minister.

Reacting strongly to KCR’s comments against Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the inauguration of Ranga Reddy district collector’s complex on Thursday, the TBJP president said it was “disgusting on part of the chief minister to convert an official programme into a political platform”.

“If he wants to make political criticism, he should use Telangana Bhavan, not even the Pragati Bhavan,” Bandi said.

The yatra would end on Saturday with a public rally at Hanamkonda to be attended by BJP chief JP Nadda.