Hyderabad, Dec 17 (IANS): Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) legislators on Tuesday came to the Telangana Assembly, wearing black shirts and handcuffs to show solidarity with the farmers arrested in connection with the Lagacherla incident.
For a second consecutive day, the BRS legislators protested over the recent incident of handcuffing a farmer while being taken to hospital from Sangareddy Jail.
Wearing handcuffs and shirts, the BRS MLAs came to the Assembly raising slogans 'Handcuffs to farmers. Shame. Shame’.
BRS working president K. T. Rama Rao and senior leader T. Harish Rao were among the MLAs who participated in the protest. They demanded the immediate release of all farmers.
BRS MLCs attended the Legislative Council wearing black shirts. Led by Kavitha, the MLCs reached the Council raising slogans, and demanding justice for the farmers. They demanded the immediate release of farmers and the withdrawal of cases booked against them. They also demanded that the Congress government apologise to the farmers.
The BRS had also staged a protest on Monday over the alleged ill-treatment of farmers arrested in connection with the Lagacherla incident.
Holding placards and raising slogans over the handcuffing of one of the arrested farmers, the BRS legislators reached the Assembly building. However, they were not allowed to enter the premises with placards.
The opposition party has been demanding a discussion on the issue in the Legislature during the ongoing winter session.
A farmer lodged in Sangareddy Jail was handcuffed when he was taken to a hospital after he complained of chest pain on December 12.
The tribal farmer Hirya Naik was arrested in connection with the attack on officials during a public hearing on land acquisition for a pharma cluster in Lagacherla village of Vikarabad district last month.
Taking serious note of the handcuffing incident, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy had ordered a probe. The same day Sangareddy Central Prison Superintendent Santosh Roy and Jailer P. Sanjeeva Reddy were suspended.