Hyderabad, Aug 18 (IANS)  YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) president Y. S. Sharmila was placed under house arrest in Hyderabad on Friday as she was preparing to leave for Gajwel, the Assembly constituency of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao for leading a protest.

There was a tense situation at Sharmila’s Lotus Pond residence in Jubilee Hills as police stopped Sharmila when she was stepping out to leave for Gajwel in Siddipet district.

Police officers conveyed to the YSRTP leader that there is no permission for her visit. She questioned the police action.

Large number of policemen were deployed outside her house to stop her. Her supporters raised slogans against the government.

In a novel protest, Sharmila performed ‘aarti’ to police officers who stopped her. She later sat on a fast at her residence along with her supporters.

Sharmila, daughter of former chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh late Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, was planning to visit Tigul village in Jagdevpur mandal, where locals had recently staged a protest alleging irregularities in implementation of Dalit Bandhu scheme.

The YSRTP leader slammed the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government for its ‘autocratic’ approach and once again dubbed BRS as Taliban Rashtra Samithi. Displaying to media persons a representation received from the chief minister’s constituency, she said as the leader of an opposition party she had every right to go there. “Can’t I raise my voice for the people. How can I do justice to them,” she asked.

Sharmila said the chief minister himself should have gone to his constituency to look into the people’s grievances. “When we want to go there, he stops us. Why is he afraid,” she asked.

The YSRTP leader said every time she was going out to visit districts and interact with people, she was being stopped.

She had an argument with the police officers and wanted to know why they were not arresting BRS leaders who were threatening to create law and order problems during her visit.

“I am not going there to create havoc. I am going to peacefully protest and meet the people,” she said.