BRS leaders sport T-shirts with Adani-Revanth images, detained

The police forces stopped the BRS lawmakers and raised objections for wearing T-shirts, which also had the slogan “Revanth-Adani Bhai Bhai”.

The Hyderabad police on Monday detained several lawmakers of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) including party working president KT Rama Rao, his sister and MLC Kavitha and his cousin T Harish Rao when they tried to enter the state assembly premises during the session sporting T-shirts with images of chief minister A Revanth Reddy alongside industrialist Gautam Adani.

BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao, centre, with other party legislators during a protest alleging an "unholy nexus" between Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and industrialist Gautam Adani, ahead of the start of winter session of the Telangana Assembly, in Hyderabad, on Monday (PTI)

The police forces stopped the BRS lawmakers and raised objections for wearing T-shirts, which also had the slogan “Revanth-Adani Bhai Bhai,” stating that such a protest would lead to a tense atmosphere in the assembly.

Speaking to reporters before being shifted to the police station, KTR said the police action clearly exposed the double standard of Congress.

“How can the Congress leaders justify the action of Rahul Gandhi wearing a T-shirt saying Adani and the Prime Minister are one?” he asked.

He alleged that Adani and Revanth Reddy were best friends. “Therefore, we are exposing the Congress and we will continue to expose them in the assembly as well,” he asserted.

KTR asserted that the BRS MLAs had every right to wear clothes of their choice and challenged the police’s authority to dictate their attire. He pointed out that Congress MPs led by Rahul Gandhi had also sported T-shirts with Adani’s pictures while entering Lok Sabha recently.

The police authorities told the BRS leaders that they would not be allowed unless they removed the T-shirts with provocative slogans and images. This led to a heated argument between the BRS lawmakers and the police officials.

With the BRS legislators refusing to relent, the police took them into custody and shifted to the Saifabad police station, before releasing them later.

Earlier, the BRS legislators visited the Telangana Martyrs’ Memorial to pay homage to those who sacrificed their lives for Telangana statehood.