Hyderabad: Secunderabad Cantonment BRS MLA G Sayanna on Sunday afternoon passed away due to kidney ailments on Sunday.
He was undergoing treatment for the issue at Yashoda Hospitals in Secunderabad where he left his last breath.
Sayanna started his political career in the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and won thrice between 1994 and 2009 as the MLA. He was also elected as a member of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam’s (TTD) board in 2015. In 2014, he defeated both TRS and Congress and became the MLA for the TDP party in the same constituency where he lost in the 2009 elections.
Post-2014, he joined the TRS (now BRS) and was the MLA until his last breath.
Hyderabad: Telangana Police on Sunday arrested YSR Telangana Party president Y.S. Sharmila for making inappropriate remarks against a legislator of ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).
Sharmila, sister of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, was arrested by the police in Mahabubabad town during her ongoing padayatra.
Police arrested her from her night halt camp and took her to Hyderabad to prevent any law and order problems in the town.
She had made some objectionable remarks against B. Shankar Naik, the MLA from Mahabubabad during a public meeting in the town on Saturday evening.
A case under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 504A (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and section 3 (1) R of Scheduled Castes Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was registered against Sharmila at Mahabubabad town police station on a complaint by a local BRS leader.
Sharmila had alleged that the MLA was involved in corruption and land encroachments and had made certain comments against him.
BRS workers also staged a protest over the YSRTP leader’s ‘inappropriate remarks’ on the MLA in the district.
After a break of more than two months, Sharmila had resumed her Praja Prasthanam Padayatra early this month.
She resumed the padayatra from the place where it was stopped in November last year.
The BRS workers had allegedly set afire her bus and pelted stones on other vehicles in Warangal district on November 28. Later, police arrested Sharmila as she refused to call off the padayatra in view of the tense situation in the area.
Sharmila was later shifted to Hyderabad. The next day, she was arrested again amid high drama while leading a protest march towards the chief minister’s official residence. She was driving a car damaged in the attack and wanted to stage a protest in front of the chief minister’s residence. The police, however, stopped her enroute. When she refused to come out of the car, the police towed it away to a police station.
The padayatra, however, could not resume as the police had not given the permission.
The YSRTP approached Telangana High Court, which asked Sharmila to abide by the conditions imposed earlier while allowing her to resume the walkathon.
Patna: RJD MLA Sudhaker Singh, whose insolence had cost him his cabinet berth, on Saturday shot off an angry letter to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar alleging that the veteran leader had “lost trust of the people”.
The legislator, on whom the party had recently slapped a show cause notice but stopped short of disciplinary action, shared his letter, running into three pages, on social media.
The first-term MLA appeared to have taken to heart the CM’s assertion the day before that his outbursts over farmers’ woes in Bihar betrayed ignorance of the government’s achievements in agriculture, a portfolio he had held for barely a couple of months.
Singh, whose father Jagadanand Singh is the RJD’s state president and a confidant of party supremo Lalu Prasad, signed off, tauntingly, as an “MLA with zero knowledge”.
In his lengthy note, Singh sought to rubbish the longest-serving CM’s claims of agricultural growth, adding: “you seem to have developed a fondness for living in delusions. It may not affect your health but it is bad for the people”.
Singh, who was asked to resign as minister by Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, son and heir apparent of Lalu Prasad, after he repeatedly attacked the government, twisted the knife in the penultimate para of his letter.
“I agree with just one averment of yours that the people are supreme (Janata maalik hai)”, said Singh, referring to a stock-in-trade phrase used by the veteran JD(U) leader.
“Do choose any constituency that suits you in the next elections. The people will show you that they, indeed, are supreme and you have lost their trust,” added the MLA.
JD(U) chief spokesperson and MLC Neeraj Kumar came out with an angry video message as a riposte, which he shared on Twitter tagging the RJD MLA, his party, his father besides the Deputy CM.
Referring to a case pending against a rice mill owned by Sudhaker Singh, which the BJP had flagged to oppose the RJD MLA’s induction into the state cabinet, Neeraj Kumar said, “You have been an accused in a case of 420 (cheating). The way you reeled out statistics to buttress your misleading points shows that you have become a 420 in your mind as well”.
Meanwhile, state BJP spokesman Nikhil Anand said, “In 2021, when we were alliance partners of JD(U), our MLC Tunnaji Pandey was suspended for speaking against Nitish ji. But today, the RJD is allowing Sudhaker Singh to have his way, busy as it is ensuring that Tejashwi Yadav occupies the top post as soon as possible. The CM is looking helpless”.
Hyderabad: Police in Telangana’s Nizamabad district seized explosive materials from a house in what is suspected to be another conspiracy to kill a legislator of the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).
As many as 95 gelatin sticks and 10 detonators were seized from the house of a woman Bonta Suguna, who was earlier arrested for plotting to murder A. Jeevan Reddy, a member of the Telangana Assembly from Armoor constituency in Nizamabad district.
The explosives were seized from Suguna’s house at Kanteshwar Housing Board colony on the outskirts of Nizamabad town.
The Police arrested Suguna (41). P. Prasad Goud (43) has been named as the second accused in the case. He is currently in jail in another case.
On August 8, 2022, Prasad Goud was arrested when he barged into the house of the legislator in Hyderabad’s Banjara Hills and allegedly pointed a gun at him.
On seeing the accused, Jeevan Reddy shouted to alert his staff and the accused fled from there.
He was later arrested by the police, who also seized a country-made gun, an air pistol and a button knife from him.
Four others, including Suguna, were later arrested for allegedly helping Prasad Goud to execute his plan to kill the MLA.
According to police, Prasad Goud bore a grudge against the Armoor MLA as he believed that he was responsible for the suspension of his wife as the sarpanch of Kalladi village in Makloor mandal.
Police investigations had revealed that Suguna informed Prasad that a country-made gun was available with Munna Kumar of Bihar for Rs 60,000. On Prasad’s direction, she later transferred the amount to Munna Kumar.
The accused were later released on bail. Following reliable information that the accused were again plotting to murder the MLA, the police searched the house of Suguna and seized the explosives. She told police that Prasad Goud had sent gelatin sticks and detonators to her house on January 9.
According to police, Prasad Goud and Suguna wanted to take revenge on the MLA for sending them to jail.
Prasad Goud is currently in jail for attacking a person with a knife.
Lucknow: A court here on Thursday remanded Nikhat Bano, the wife of Uttar Pradesh MLA Abbas Ansari, in police custody for three days.
Nikhat Bano was arrested on February 10 for illegally meeting her jailed husband in the deputy jailer’s room in Chitrakoot district.
The jail superintendent and seven other staff members were suspended for laxity and departmental action was initiated against them.
Lokesh Varun, the special judge of the court hearing cases lodged under the Prevention of Corruption Act, sent Nikhat Bano to police custody for three days. Her driver Niyaj Ahmad, another accused in the case, was remanded in police custody for five days.
Hearing the matter through video-conferencing, the court said the remand period would begin from 10 am on Friday.
Investigating officer Harsh Pandey had moved an application seeking police remand of both the accused.
The court was told that the two were arrested from the jail compound in Chitrakoot.
The court was also told that Nikhat Bano had kept her iPhone locked and it was necessary to unlock it so that relevant information could be collected.
It was also stated that Ahmad had not handed over his mobile phone to police and it was necessary to trace the phone to ascertain the involvement of others.
Abbas Ansari, the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) MLA from Mau and son of jailed gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, has been in prison for the last three months in connection with a money-laundering case.
Apart from her mobile phone, many “objectionable” articles were found from Nikhat Bano’s possession, police had said.
On the basis of a complaint from Sub-Inspector in-charge of the Ragauli Jail police station Shyamdev Singh, an FIR was lodged against five people — Nikhat Bano, Ahmad, Jail Superintendent Ashok Sagar, the deputy jailor and a constable.
They were booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 222 (intentional omission to apprehend on the part of public servant bound to apprehend person under sentence or lawfully committed), 186 (voluntarily obstructing a public servant in the discharge of his public functions), 506 (criminal intimidation), 201, which deals with tampering with evidence, and 120B (criminal conspiracy).
Police had also seized Saudi Arabian currency from Nikhat Bano.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had arrested Abbas Ansari (30) in November last year after a long questioning session at the federal agency’s office in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh.
Hyderabad: Goshamahal MLA T Raja Singh, who is still in suspension from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), demanded the ruling BRS government here to provide him with a new Bullet Resistant (BR) vehicle or withdraw the vehicle and security he currently has.
On Thursday, the black coloured BR vehicle’s front tyre had to be removed after the vehicle was on the run on the Mangalhat police station ground. Raja Singh was returning home after attending the assembly session when the driver noticed the vehicle tyre getting damaged.
“After great difficulty we managed to bring the vehicle to the roadside. We were going at a low speed hence any major accident averted. Otherwise, the vehicle would have overturned and consequences would have been fatal,” T Raja Singh told media persons.
The MLA said home minister Mohd Mahmood Ali should be ashamed of showing negligent attitude in taking care of the security of the sitting MLA. “Check and replace the vehicle at the earliest or you have other plans?” questioned Raja Singh. The BJP MLA is currently out on bail, which was given to him by the Telangana high court after it quashed his imprisonment under the Preventive Detention (PD) Act in the Prophet remarks case.
Previously, Raja Singh’s vehicle developed technical snags forcing it to be taken for repairs. The MLA then also demanded replacement of his vehicle. Singh is provided with 2+2 round the clock security and a BR vehicle.
Bypassing high court’s gag order
The BJP legislator passed derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammed last year in response to the state government allowing comedian Munawar Faruqui to hold a show in Hyderabad. Raja Singh’s comments sparked several protests and he was soon arrested by the city police and eventually put in prison.
Hit with a gag order from the Telangana High Court, suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA T Raja Singh seems to be subverting his restrictions by passing communal and inflammatory remarks from outside the state.
While quashing Singh’s detention in jail under the PD Act last year, the High Court, as part of its bail order, warned the BJP MLA was told not to make provocative speeches or speak in public. So far, a case has already been registered against him in recent times for violating the court orders (with the Mangalhat police station). Raja Singh was served another notice by the Hyderabad police on January 29 for a hate speech in Mumbai.
His statements come just months ahead of the Telangana state elections, which are due this year. With restrictions on him, Raja Singh is currently unable to carry out political campaigns or hold public rallies as he would have ideally done in the run-up to the polls. It is unsure how the state judiciary will react to him making speeches outside, with the logic that it is beyond the HC’s jurisdiction.
Amaravati: Rebel MLA of Andhra Pradesh’s ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), Kotam Sridhar Reddy has complained to the Union Home Ministry about phone tapping.
The MLA from Nellore Rural constituency, who raised a banner of revolt against the party with the allegation of phone tapping, said on Wednesday that he has written a letter to the Union Home Ministry, seeking a probe.
He said after getting an appointment, he would visit Delhi and personally meet home ministry officials to submit the details.
Sridhar Reddy said ever since he stated that his phone was being tapped, ministers and YSRCP leaders started criticising him. He alleged that he was receiving threatening calls.
Alleging that false cases were being booked against him, the MLA said he was not afraid of cases and was determined to continue his fight without bothering about the consequences.
The MLA reiterated that his phone tapping started after he raised people’s issues and spoke about roads, drinking water and other civic problems in his constituency.
He had earlier stated that phone tapping was not possible without orders from the chief minister.
He claimed that four months ago an Indian Police Service (IPS) official had told him that his phone was being tapped but he did not believe this as he was not indulging in any illegal business or anti-party activity. He said he later found evidence of his phone being tapped.
Sridhar Reddy also made it clear that he would not stay in the party where he was looked with suspicion.
YSRCP leaders have dismissed the allegation of Sridhar Reddy and claimed that he was trying to join Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
Hyderabad: Telangana BJP MLA Raghunandan Rao on Sunday demanded Director General of Police Anjani Kumar be immediately sent to his cadre state, Andhra Pradesh.
He alleged that injustice was done to the Indian Police Service (IPS) officers from Telangana by the state government as it posted four IPS officers from Bihar in key positions.
The MLA told reporters that in the recent transfer of 93 IPS officers, Anjani Kumar, Sanjay Jain, Swati Lakra and Shahnawaz Qasim were given key posts.
He alleged that not even one IPS officer from Telangana was given an important post.
He said Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao appointed officials from Bihar to key posts like Chief Secretary and the DGP, which gives credence to the doubt that he hails from Bihar.
He alleged that CM KCR gave key posts to officials who were obeying the government’s orders by arresting leaders of opposition parties.
The BJP leader slammed AIMIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi for his statement in the Assembly that AIMIM would win 15 Assembly seats but would work under Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) led by KCR.
Raghunandan Rao said this proved their allegation that AIMIM is ‘B’ team of BRS.
Amaravati: Nellore rural MLA Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy, who has raised the banner of revolt against the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), alleged on Sunday that though he has been receiving threatening phone calls, the government has scaled down his security.
The MLA, who created a sensation recently by alleging that his phones were being tapped, said his security was scaled with orders from the top.
Sridhar Reddy said the government had given him four gunmen (security guards) and on Saturday it issued orders to take back two of them.
He said the gunmen were taken back to mentally harass him. He said ever since he spoke about phone tapping he had been receiving threatening phone calls.
“In this situation, I need additional security but even the existing security was withdrawn. This would not have been done without orders from the top,” he said
“The government took back two gunmen but I am surrendering the remaining two as a gift to it. I am not afraid of anybody. I will go around alone,” he said.
Sridhar Reddy said he was not afraid of threats or false cases being booked against him.
The police had Saturday booked Sridhar Reddy and two others with the alleged kidnapping of a ruling YSRC corporator and attempting to compel him into resigning from the party.
A case was registered against them for trespassing into the home and kidnapping M. Vijayabhaskar Reddy, a corporator of Nellore city, with criminal intent.
The ruling party corporator, in his complaint, said Kotamreddy tried to persuade him to leave YSRCP and join him. When he refused, the corporator alleged, one of the MLA’s followers, along with driver Ankaiah, intimidated and abducted him from the Padarupalli area on Friday between 2.30 p.m. and 3 p.m. and took him to the MLA. The corporator stated that he, however, managed to flee and filed a case against the MLA at Vedayapalem police station.
However, Sridhar Reddy clarified that he went to corporator Vijayabhaskar’s house to talk to him. For that, a kidnapping case has been filed against him.
On Saturday, an audio tape of a phone call between Sridhar Reddy and one Borugadda Anil went viral on social media. In the audio, Anil warns the MLA to be careful in his public speeches regarding the YSRCP chief. Anil is heard threatening the MLA that he (Sridhar Reddy) and his brother would be chained to a vehicle and dragged through the streets of Nellore if they continue to criticise Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy and YSRCP party leaders.
Hyderabad: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Telangana may be in a sticky wicket over suspended Goshamahal MLA T Raja Singh’s fate in the coming days. While his supporters and a section of leaders from the BJP want his suspension to be lifted, the state leadership however cannot do much as Singh isn’t alone in his transgression of passing derogatory remarks against the Prophet Muhammad.
According to BJP leaders from Telangana, Raja Singh will have to wait till the BJP’s central leadership takes a call with regard to his suspension. The Goshamahal MLA was suspended last year in August after he passed derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad in response to the state government allowing comic Munawar Faruqui hold a show in Hyderabad.
Raja Singh was soon arrested by the Hyderabad police under the Preventive Detention (PD) Act, and is currently out on bail he received from the Telangana high court. However, he has a gag order placed on him, as the court placed certain conditions for his release, including not passing inflammatory comments in public (and also from holding public meetings in general).
Section among BJP wants him reinstated
However, Raja Singh may have landed himself in bigger soup than he would have thought of. Before Singh, now suspended party spokesperson Nupur Sharma also passed similar comments on TV, which led to the BJP-run central leadership facing international condemnation from Muslim majority nations, especially from the middle-east. It led to an international backlash, after which the party promptly suspended Sharma.
Similarly, Raja Singh was also immediately suspended after he passed such comments. “Definitely there are demands to reinstate him, but there are other persons also who are suspended from other states. He is our party MLA and we will try to get him out of the issue,” said a senior BJP from Hyderabad.
After being released from jail, Raja Singh has continued to do what he wants. In spite of the gag order from the Telangana High Court, he BJP MLA seems to be subverting his restrictions by passing communal and inflammatory remarks from outside the state. A case has already been registered against him in recent times for violating the court orders (with the Mangalhat police station).
Raja Singh undeterred by gag order
He was served another notice by the Mangalhat police in Hyderabad on January 29 for a hate speech he gave at a public meeting in Mumbai. In response to the notice, Raja Singh denied making any provocative speeches and asked the Hyderabad police which issued him a show cause notice to drop the same. “I reasonably believe, it is an act of political vendetta and your esteemed machinery is put into action under force,” he stated.
When asked if the BJP here will try and restrain him until his issue is sorted out, the part leader said that won’t be possible. “He is a second time MLA so we cannot tell him anything,” he added. It is to be seen whether Raja Singh is able to get out of the gag order, given that elections are approaching in Telangana. The state goes to polls later this year in about six months time.
In the 2018 Telangana state elections, Raja Singh was the only BJP leader who managed to win. He retained the Goshamahal seat. The ruling TRS, which has now changed its name to Bharata Rashtra Samithi (BRS), had won the election with a big margin. It secured 88 Assembly seats out of 119, while the opposition Congress (which had an alliance with the TDP and other parties), won 19 seats, and the Telugu Desam party won 2. The AIMIM retained all of its seven seats in Hyderabad.
Prophet row
The suspended BJP MLA was detained under the Preventive Detention (PD) Act by the Hyderabad police last year. After spending nearly three months in the Central Prison, Cherlapally, he was released after the High Court quashed his detention orders.
Cops take hold of a man protesting against BJP MLA Raja Singh last year. (Image: Siasat)
Cases were registered against Raja Singh for passing derogatory statements against Prophet Muhammad that brought the city to the verge of a communal riot last year. Raja Singh released a video with his objectionable remarks after the state government allowed comedian Munawar Faruqui, who had performed a comedy set about Hindu gods earlier, to hold a show in the city.
The BJP MLA’s video led to several protests for over two days, after which the Hyderabad police put him in prison. Senior police officials said that they are keeping tabs on him after his release as well.
