Telangana Congress legislator S A Sampath Kumar, who was expelled from the Assembly earlier, was placed under house arrest on Friday during state Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s visit to Jogulamba Gadwal district.
The house arrest came a day after Sampath had written an open letter to KCR, questioning the Chief Minister's decision to visit the district without fulfilling the promises made by the ruling-TRS government.
KCR was in the district, to lay the foundation stone for the Gattu Lift Irrigation scheme.
The police feared that Sampath and his supporters could disrupt the programme as they had warned of a staging a protest in Tummilla. To prevent this, they put him under house arrest as a precautionary measure.
Speaking to reporters over the house arrest, Sampath Kumar asked, “Does an MLA have no right to tour his constituency?”
Many senior leaders of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) also questioned and condemned the move by the state government, with TPCC President N Uttam Kumar Reddy alleging that Sampath was being harassed as he was a Dalit.
Leaders also dubbed the move 'autocratic' and a 'murder of democracy'.
Sampath Kumar, along with another Congress MLA, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, were expelled and 11 others were suspended after the Assembly passed a resolution last year.
The opposition Congress members tried to disrupt the Governor's address on the first day of the budget session of the state legislature. Amid the ruckus, the Congress members threw headphones, injuring Council Chairman K. Swami Goud in his eye.
The two expelled legislators had approached the court earlier this year challenging their suspension from the House and also a gazette issued by the Legislature Secretary notifying vacancy for Nalgonda and Alampur (SC) Assembly constituencies.
The court then directed the Legislature Secretary to produce video footage of the incident that took place during the Governor's address.
Earlier this month, the MLAs moved a contempt petition against state law secretary Niranjan Rao and secretary to the Legislative Assembly V. Narasimha Charyulu.
Stating that their membership to the Assembly was yet to be restored, despite orders from the Hyderabad High Court, the duo sought punishment against the two officials under the Contempt of Courts Act.