Bandi sanjay: KCR stifling dissenting voices

Hyderabad: Bharatiya Janata Party State chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar accused Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao of stifling the voices that were questioning him and his "autocratic" rule in the State.

Welcoming Chintapandu Naveen, who is popular by his sobriquet Teenmaar Mallanna, into the saffron party on Tuesday at the party headquarters in Delhi, Bandi said Mallanna was a questioning voice in Telangana and was arrested several times for raising his voice against the dictatorial rule of TRS in the State.

"The Chief Minister tried to instill fear in Mallanna by foisting several cases against him. He was harassed by slapping several non-bailable cases. Yet, he did not budge and continued his fight selflessly against the TRS government," praised Bandi, adding that the saffron party welcomes all those who fought for separate statehood movement.

Party's national general secretary and Telangana in-charge Tarun Chugh said that KCR turned intolerant towards voices opposing him, and slapped multiple cases and sent Mallanna to jail. "Despite getting bail nine times, Mallanna was sent behind bars time and again. Yet, he stood unwavering and secured second place as an independent candidate in the Graduate MLC constituency elections," he added.

Explaining how 38 false cases have been foisted against him allegedly at the behest of CM KCR, Mallanna said that KCR started his political career with five acres. He vowed to bring the TRS chief back to the same stage by taking BJP in a big way into the people and defeating KCR and his party.

Nizamabad MP Dharmapuri Aravind and other leaders of the party welcomed Mallanna into the party fold.