Telangana: BJP workers partly demolish church compound wall on assigned land

Hyderabad: The demolition of a church’s compound wall has become a contentious issue in Siddipet district. BJP Medak MP M Raghunandan Rao contends that the church was constructed on an assigned land after it was transferred to someone else illegally.

According to Raghunandan Rao, eight BJP workers were arrested and sedition cases were booked against them at Kukunoorpally police station on Monday, October 28, after they had allegedly demolished a part of the church.

“The state government itself has appointed an IPS officer named Ranganath to demolish the illegal structures built in government lands. If our Karyakarthas do the same thing, what is their fault?” he questioned, speaking with the media.

Raghunandan Rao went to the police station on Monday night, after coming to know about the arrest of BJP workers. According to the police, Rao created a scene there.

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Kukunoorpally police told Siasat.com that the land in question was assigned, but was transferred in the name of a resident of Hyderabad, who had connections with the church ministries. They also informed that notarised documents were produced for the sale of the assigned land in question, which was illegal.

The police said that the wall demolishers argued that there were already two churches in the village, and this was the third church being built there, that too illegally, without obtaining any permissions.

The police also said that the colony where the church was being constructed didn’t belong to the Dalit community and that the Mudiraju community was predominant in that area.

Raghunandan Rao too said that neither the panchayat secretary’s nor the mandal revenue officer’s permission was obtained for building the church. He also said that despite repeated complaints by BJP workers, no action was initiated against the encroachers in the assigned land.

He said that BJP would wage a legal battle on the construction of the church.

“If Raghunandan Rao resigns his MP post and talks like this, it is understandable. But being in a responsible position and talking about demolishing a church, he should immediately resign,” demanded a leader of the Dalit Bahujan Front, Shankar Peddalingannagari, told Siasat.com.

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