Police personnel stand guard outside the Pragathi Bhavan in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: Several Congress leaders and workers were either placed under house arrest or were taken into preventive custody in Hyderabad and parts of Telangana on Monday hours before their proposed plan to lay siege to Pragathi Bhavan , the camp office-cum-residence of chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

The Congress has called for the demonstration in support of the ongoing TSRTC employees' strike and their demands. The Congress is protesting against the attitude of chief minister who is not holding talks with RTC Unions to resolve the issue.

The Congress has also condemned the announcement made by the chief minister that 48,000 RTC employees were "self-dismissed" as they did not attend their duties before the deadline set by the government.

The RTC employees have been on strike since October 5 with one of their main demand being merger of the transport body with the state government service. The government has been running skeletal RTC bus services by hiring private drivers.

The schools re-opened on Monday after the extended Dasara festival vacation amidst the ongoing RTC strike. The students had difficulty in reaching their institutions due to the bus strike.

Top leaders of the Congress including TPCC working president and Malkajgiri MP A Revanth Reddy, CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, TPCC working president and former MP Ponnam Prabhakar, former minister and ex-opposition leader in the legislative council Mohammed Ali Shabbir and many others were placed under arrest.

Even the Begumpet Metro station was closed considering the large number of Congress workers might use the service to reach Pragathi Bhavan. The station was later opened amid heavy security.

However, there was no confirmation from Metro Rail authorities that the rail station was closed due to Congress action plan to lay siege to Pragathi Bhavan.

A large number of police personnel were deployed in and around Pragathi Bhavan to prevent Congress leaders from assembling or staging a protest.

Shabbir Ali accused CM KCR of ruling like a dictator and sought to assure the striking RTC employees that the Congress will stand by them until the government resolves their issue.

