Hyderabad, August 27, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
BRS Deputy Leader in the Telangana Assembly T. Harish Rao was detained by police on Thursday while attending a protest by government employees at the Hanumakonda district Collectorate in support of their demands.
Tension prevailed at the Collectorate after a scuffle broke out between police personnel and BRS workers following Harish Rao’s detention.
The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) alleged that police behaved rudely with the former Minister and detained him without allowing him to board a vehicle. Police subsequently escorted Harish Rao on foot from the Collectorate to a police station, prompting protests from BRS cadres over the manner of his detention.
The protest was organised by the Telangana Non-Gazetted Officers (TNGOs) Association. Harish Rao had reached the venue to extend his support to the employees and their demands.
Earlier in the day, police had placed Harish Rao under house arrest at his Kokapet residence in Hyderabad ahead of his proposed visit to Warangal. He was scheduled to meet students of Government Polytechnic College and support their agitation against Government Order 97, which relates to the merger of polytechnic colleges with Young India Skills University.
Harish Rao, however, managed to leave his residence and reach Hanumakonda. After attending the employees’ protest, he was scheduled to proceed to the Government Polytechnic College in Warangal when police detained him.
Before his detention, Harish Rao told reporters that the Revanth Reddy government was the only government in the country to have kept six instalments of Dearness Allowance pending. He extended the BRS’s full support to the “legitimate demands” of government employees and called on the state government to resolve their grievances immediately.
He also criticised the government over pension and pay-related issues, saying the Congress had promised during the elections to replace the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) with the Old Pension Scheme (OPS).
Nearly three years after the Congress came to power, the CPS had not been abolished and no resolution had been reached on the Pay Revision Commission, he claimed.
Harish Rao also referred to the Employee Health Scheme introduced during the BRS government, saying employees were required to contribute one per cent of their salary. He alleged that the Congress government had increased the contribution to 1.5 per cent and that deductions were being made from the salaries of both spouses when both husband and wife are employed.
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