Police detained leaders and workers of the students wing of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) here on Sunday when they were trying to march to Ministers’ Quarters for a protest to demand the withdrawal of a government order on MBBS admissions in Telangana.
Police stopped the protesters outside Telangana Bhavan, the headquarters of BRS. This led to a heated argument between the protestors and the police. The protestors tried to force their way through the police barricade, leading to pushing and jostling between the two sides.
BRSV state president Gellu Srinivas Yadav, who was leading the protest, and other leaders were detained by the police. They were raising slogans of “CM down down” and “we want justice”.
As some protesters squatted on the road, police physically lifted them to the waiting vehicles and shifted them to police stations.
Some protesters managed to reach Ministers’ Quarters from other places demanding the withdrawal of Government Order 33 which changed the rules relating to admissions in MBBS.
The protesters demanded that only local students should be allotted medical seats in the state.
Srinivas Yadav said the changes in the rules about local students would harm the interests of Telangana farmers. He alleged that the Congress government colluded with the management of private medical colleges to sell the seats to non-local students.
The GO 33 states that students must study in Telangana from 9th to 12th grade to be recognised as local students for admission into medical colleges. Earlier, students were recognised as local if they studied from 6th to 12th grade in the state.
The BRS has alleged that the change in rules will harm Telangana students and benefit students from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.
The Congress government has refuted the allegations. State Health Minister Damodar Raja Narasimha claimed that the change in rules will neither harm Telangana students in MBBS admissions nor provide any advantage to students from other states.