The Telangana Assembly's winter session was off to a stormy start on Friday, after the main opposition Congress party took out a 'Chalo Assembly' rally from Gandhi Bhavan, the party's headquarters in Hyderabad.
The protest sought to highlight the problems of farmers in the state, and how 'anti-farmer' policies of the state has left them in a poor condition.
The Congress alleged that the implementation of the farm loan waiver promise by the TRS government in phases, instead of doing it in one go, did not help the farmers.
"The government has also failed to waive-off farm loans. Only the interest has been done away with and not the principle amount. The pass books of farmers are still with banks. The state government has failed to help cotton farmers who have suffered losses due to the recent heavy rainfall,” Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) chief spokesperson Sravan Dasoju was quoted as saying.
It also said that the Telangana government failed to ensure a remunerative price for farmers, who are presently suffering from crop damages due to heavy rain.
The Congress alleged that the arrests began on Thursday night itself with district police in areas like Nalgonda, Suryapet and Yadadri making preventive arrests as party workers were on their way to Hyderabad.
According to reports, police teams were deployed near the Panthagi toll plaza on the Hyderabad- Vijaywada Highway and Gudur toll Plaza of the Hyderabad- Warangal Highway, to detain Congress workers.
Speaking to media persons on Thursday night, TPCC President N Uttam Kumar Reddy condemned the arrests of his party activists.
Dubbing it 'undemocratic', he demanded their immediate release and accused the TRS government of trying to curb dissent.
Meanwhile, the TRS said that it was willing to debate any issue that the opposition parties raised, and was open to any questions.
In fact, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday, pitched for a 50-day Assembly session, upping the ante, compared to the opposition parties' demand for a 20-day session.
“Every issue should be debated in the Assembly. The government is ready to answer all the queries and questions that will be raised by the members. We are ready to debate on any issue. All issues should be explained to the people through the Assembly. The Ministers should get ready for this. We are ready to answer any question raised by the members in the Opposition. We have implemented many innovative programmes and schemes for the people, which no other government did in the country. This should be explained to the people,” a press release quoted KCR as saying earlier this week.