YSRTP leader YS Sharmila, who was put under house arrest by the Telangana Police here on Friday, surprised everyone by performing aarti of the police personnel who arrived at her residence to enforce the house arrest.
What’s more, she prayed for their wisdom and righteousness alleging that the police were working for the ruling BRS.
The police had put her under house arrest to prevent her from going to Gajwel, the constituency of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
The YSRTP leader was scheduled to set off on a visit to Gajwel in the morning to meet those agitating in Teegul for being denied the benefits of the Dalit Bandhu scheme.
Sharmila had announced her visit to Teegul village in Gajwel constituency after some people belonging to a Dalit community were agitating against denial of their benefits under the Dalit Bandhu Scheme although they are eligible for it.
Under the Dalit Bandhu scheme, every poor Dalit family gets Rs 10 lakh assistance from the state government to start an enterprise. They are not required to pay back the sum and the scheme aims at fostering entrepreneurship among the Dalits. In Teegul village of Jagdevpur mandal protests erupted as allegations of corruption surfaced in the selection of the beneficiaries.
Protestors emerged accusing BRS leaders and their associates of bagging most of the slots of the beneficiaries of the scheme. Out of a total of 400 Dalit families, only 20 have been chosen, alleged the protestors. They even raised slogans against the chief minister and finance minister.
Sharmila, who is in talks with the Congress on merger of her party before Assembly elections, was prevented by the police from leaving for Teegul anticipating trouble since BRS leaders were opposing her visit. After she was prevented from visiting Teegul she held a flash dharna at her residence.
“If you know there is going to be a law and order problem, why then aren’t you taking the BRS men in custody? How fair is this? If the chief minister had addressed this problem of the Dalits in his own constituency then there would not have been any need for me to visit there,” said Sharmila.
During her argument with the police personnel, she performed aarti praying for their long life and wisdom so that they perform their duties as they had promised.
Sharmila is known for such antics and in the past she had sent a pair of shoes to the chief minister once so that he can tour the state and a truck full of damaged crops to draw his attention to the plight of farmers due to unseasonal rain some months ago.