Karimnagar, July 20 : Former Choppadandi MLA Sunke Ravishankar and several BRS leaders were preventively arrested by the police on Monday after staging a road blockade on the Karimnagar-Jagtial highway. The leaders were demanding the release of former minister T. Jeevan Reddy and the immediate release of irrigation water for drying crops.
Tensions escalated in the Malyala mandal of Choppadandi constituency when local farmers launched a protest over the lack of water supply, stating that their paddy nurseries were drying up. Farmers demanded the immediate release of water into the flood canal. When Ravishankar attempted to join the protesting farmers to express his solidarity, police intercepted and placed him under preventive arrest, leading to a heated argument.
Upon learning that former minister Jeevan Reddy was also detained while heading to support the farmers, Ravishankar and BRS workers held a rasta roko (road blockade) at Dongalamarri near JNTU. Police quickly cleared the protest and shifted the leaders to the Gangadhara police station.
Condemning the police action, Ravishankar questioned whether freedom of speech still existed under the Congress government. He warned that despite illegal arrests and restrictions, the BRS would launch a large-scale public agitation if water was not supplied to farmers immediately.
Keywords : Farmer Protest, BRS, Arrests, Irrigation Water, Choppadandi, Malyala, Rasta Roko, Congress Government
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