BJP calls for bandh in Goshamahal today

Hyderabad: State BJP president K Laxman on Thursday wondered whether there is one law for the leaders and cadre of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) and quite an another for the leaders and cadre of the BJP in the State.

He was addressing the media here after meeting the Additional DGP on the issue of police resorting to lathi-charge on BJP Goshamahal MLA Raja Singh and party cadre when they tried to reinstall the statue of Rani Avanti Bhai on Wednesday night at Goshamahal.

Terming the police action as highhandedness, partisan and biased, he said the city BJP called for Goshamahal bandh on Friday to register a protest against the police highhandedness, he added. He appealed to the people and businessmen of the Goshamahal to extend their support and participate make the bandh a success.

Laxman said the statue of Rani Avanti Bhai was installed by the local people cutting across the party lines in 2009 at Goshamahal as a mark of respect to the freedom fighter who took part in the freedom struggle against the British in 1857.

"It has been the tradition to conduct repairs, taking up painting work and reinstalling statue every two to three years. It was against this backdrop that the local MLA along with his supporters had tried to reinstall a fibre statue of Rani Avanti, as the existing cement statue was damaged due to wear and tear.

It was planned to install the statue on Wednesday night so as to avoid inconvenience to the commuters in the day time," he said. Further, "Neither there was any complaint from the officials of the civic body nor was there any clash between two groups regarding the reinstallation of the statue leading to a law and order problem.

Yet, the police had appeared from nowhere and unilaterally resorted to lathi-charge on the local MLA and people there who were trying to reinstall the statue," he alleged.

The police had arrested the BJP MLA Raja Singh and MLC N Ramachander Rao when they went there to protect the government land at Amberpet.

He said it seemed that the ruling TRS government was not able to digest the growing popularity of the BJP in the State in the aftermath of the Parliament elections.