Hyderabad, April 17 (IANS) Bharat Rashtra Samithi’s student wing BRSV on Friday staged a protest near the BJP’s Telangana headquarters here, condemning the remarks made by Tejasvi Surya about Telangana in the Parliament.

Activists of BRSV tried to surround the BJP office in Nampally, raising slogans against the BJP MP from Karnataka.

The protestors set a poster of Surya on fire. Police intervened to detain the protestors.

During the debate on Women’s Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, Surya had allegedly compared bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh with the Partition of India.

His remarks have triggered strong condemnation from Congress, BRS, Left parties and Telangana Jagruti. Leaders of all these parties accused him of insulting Telangana by comparing its formation with the creation of Pakistan and demanded an apology.

BRSV leaders stated that Surya insulted the sacrifices of Telangana’s martyrs and the sentiments of people. They demanded that the MP tender an unconditional apology to the people of Telangana.

Meanwhile, BRS leader, R.S. Praveen Kumar, demanded that Surya come to Hyderabad and touch the feet of family members of Telangana martyrs for 24 hours continuously.

The former IPS officer reacted to a clarification posted by Surya on ‘X’. “This unapologetic AI generated reply won’t do, Tejasvi Surya ji. You must come along with all your Telangana BJP MPs (who were mute spectators in Parliament to your vitriol) to Hyderabad and touch the holy feet of family members of all 1,300 Telangana Martyrs for 24 hours continuously,” demanded Praveen Kumar.

In a statement posted on Thursday night, Surya stated that his statement was twisted.

“I reject the deliberate insinuation being furthered by the Opposition, and firmly state my long-standing respect for the martyrs and protesters who sustained the Telangana movement. However, my comments must be seen as a reminder of how the Congress has traditionally betrayed the Southern states. In the case of the Telangana movement in particular, Congress’ betrayal has been stark,” wrote the MP from Bengaluru South.

Meanwhile, Telangana’s minister for transport and backward classes welfare Ponnam Prabhakar urged Union Minister for Coal and Mines, G. Kishan Reddy, to take immediate steps to remove Tejasvi Surya’s controversial remarks from Parliament records.

Prabhakar said that Surya compared Telangana to the India-Pakistan Partition.

The minister claimed that Kishan Reddy during his press conference in New Delhi on Friday admitted that Tejasvi committed a mistake. Prabhakar told Kishan Reddy to take the initiative to urge the Lok Sabha Speaker to expunge Surya’s remarks from the record.

–IANS

ms/rad