The Telangana High Court on Tuesday directed the Suryapet SP not to obstruct the election campaigning of Teenmar Mallanna alias Naveen Kumar, who is contesting the Huzurnagar bye-polls, scheduled for October 21. The vacation bench headed by Justice A Rajasheker Reddy pronounced the order after Mallanna filed a petition alleging that the Mellacheruvu police were obstructing his cadre from campaigning for the upcoming elections.
A journalist by profession, Mallanna is fighting the polls against TRS's Saidi Reddy and Congress's Padmavathi Reddy. According to the petition filed by Mallanna, not only did the Mellacheruvu police obstruct his campaign, they also threatened his party members with dire consequences if they campaigned wearing shirts with his picture printed on them.
The counsel for the police argued that the petitioner was not given permission to hold a meeting and campaign.
However, the court granted permission to Mallanna to campaign in Huzurnagar and has ordered the cops to not obstruct campaigning.
36-year-old Mallanna is a popular name in Telangana households for his reportage and fiery journalism. In an interview to TNM, Mallanna said that he was standing in the bye-polls despite threats and disruptions. He also said that he will soon start a political platform that will work beyond this bye-election.
"The majority section, the poor, SCs STs and BCs minorities are with me. As soon as I asked for campaign funding, people immediately pooled up their little amounts and sent me Rs 14 lakh. The same people will elect me. In this election, the money of political parties won't work," he told in an interview to TNM.
The Huzurnagar bye-poll was necessitated after the resignation of Telangana Congress Chief Uttam Kumar Reddy after he was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Nalgonda constituency earlier this year. While the Congress has fielded Padmavathi Reddy, Uttam Kumar's wife, TRS candidate Saidi Reddy had contested from the same constituency earlier during the Assembly elections in 2018 but had lost to Uttam Kumar.