Union Minister and BJP Telangana unit president G Kishan Reddy on Thursday concluded his 24-hour fast against the BRS government’s alleged negligence towards unemployed youth.
Former Union Minister Prakash Javadekar, who is BJP’s election in-charge for Telangana, offered lime juice to Kishan Reddy marking the conclusion of the fast.
Reddy began his fast on Wednesday at the Dharna Chowk here. However, he was “forcibly” shifted by police from the Dharna Chowk Wednesday evening for “continuing” the protest beyond the permitted time. Mild tension prevailed at the Dharna Chowk on Wednesday evening as BJP activists raised slogans and opposed the police action even as Reddy was shifted to the state BJP headquarters.
Reddy, however, continued his fast at the party office. BJP General Secretary Tarun Chugh, in-charge of party affairs in Telangana, on Wednesday night condemned the police action and claimed that Reddy fell unconscious at the protest site. “Permission for the protest was issued from 10 am to 6 pm but they did not follow the timings and did not vacate from the protest site,” a senior police official said on Wednesday night.
Asked about Reddy falling unconscious, police said it could be due to dehydration.
Kishan Reddy, on his request, was subsequently shifted to the Telangana BJP office, the official had said. Condemning the police action, Telangana BJP General Secretary G Premender Reddy called for protests on Thursday.
In a release on Wednesday night, Premender Reddy also said the matter was taken to the notice of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda. Shah had spoken to Kishan Reddy over phone and told him to continue the struggle against the BRS government on people’s issues, the release said. Kishan Reddy said the BJP will not let up its struggle in support of the unemployed and those cheated by the government which supervised botched recruitment exams – as many as 17 of them with question papers leaked in all of them.