Several Held Over Hyd Varsity Land Auction Stir

The Hyderabad police on Tuesday detained Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) floor leader A Maheshwar Reddy and several Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) activists for attempting to stage a protest outside the state legislative assembly against the auction of 400 acres of land belonging to the University of Hyderabad, also known as Hyderabad Central University.

- Srinivasa Rao Apparasu

HYDERABAD:

Led by BJYM Telangana unit president S Mahender, hundreds of activists marched towards the state assembly from Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Bhavan, the BJP headquarters at Nampally, raising slogans and holding placards demanding that the state government immediately withdraw the move to auction precious lands of the HCU, at Kancha Gachibowli, on the outskirts.

The police stopped the activists as they approached the assembly complex, and the BJYM activists made an attempt to march ahead regardless. Maheshwar Reddy, who was attending the assembly, also joined the protestors, leading to a rise in tensions in the area for some time.

Later, the police detained several demonstrators, including Maheshwar Reddy. They physically lifted the protestors, bundled them into police vans and took them to the Nampally police station. The protestors were released after a couple of hours. The BJP MLA was later taken back to the state assembly.

Speaking to reporters later, the BJYM state president said the Revanth Reddy government was trying to make money by selling the Hyderabad central university lands. "Revanth Reddy never bothered to provide facilities to the university students, but is trying to auction 400 acres of university lands, for the sake of commissions," he alleged.