PM Modi rally: Police foil TRS youth wing's attempt to stage protest

Hyderabad, July 3: Telangana cops took a group of activists of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi Vidyarthi Vibhagam (TRSV), who planned to hold a protest at Parade Ground in the city where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address a public meeting, into preventive custody on Sunday, police said.

Activists of TRSV, the student wing of the TRS, held placards and raised slogans like "Go Back Modi" while trying to stage a protest against the BJP at the Arts College on the campus of Osmania University. As the protesters tried to go towards the Parade Ground to hold a protest, police intervened and foiled their attempts and 20 of them were taken into preventive custody, a police official said.

The activists also carried placards demanding the release and withdrawal of cases against those arrested during the protests against the 'Agnipath' recruitment system for the armed forces and also over the Centre's decision for shelving the Information Technology and Investment Region (ITIR) project in Hyderabad.

Modi is in the city, attending the BJP's two-day National Executive Committee meeting that began on Saturday and will be addressing a public meeting titled as 'Vijay Sankalpa Sabha' at Parade Ground in Secunderabad on Sunday evening.

The Hyderabad Police is also making massive arrangements for the public meeting, which is likely to witness the attendance of lakhs of people. Police earlier said there will be elaborate measures in place to deal with any spontaneous protests. About 3,000 police personnel from Hyderabad city and other districts, besides TSSP (Telangana state special police) would be on duty. The elite police personnel of Telangana, the Greyhounds and Octopus, would also be deployed. Deployment of snipers, anti-sabotage checks, roof-top watch, mufti parties, route map, trial runs and multi-layer security arrangements were being made in the city limits, police had said. PTI