BJP brings fee dues to barricades
Two Telangana BJP leaders were taken into custody during a march to the Secretariat over alleged fee-reimbursement arrears. The numbers, as usual, arrived less organised than the protest.
Protesters cited competing figures for fee-reimbursement dues as police blocked the march to the Secretariat.
Two Telangana BJP leaders were taken into custody on September 3 after BJP and BJYM protesters tried to march to or enter the Secretariat over alleged fee-reimbursement dues. Telangana BJP president N Ramchander Rao and BJP Legislature Party leader Aleti Maheshwar Reddy were moved to Chikkadpally Police Station, according to multiple reports. Police barricades and a confrontation preceded the detentions.
The BJP and ABVP claimed during the protest that Rs 11,000 crore was pending and that a representation carried more than eight lakh student signatures. Neither figure has been independently verified. Recent BJP statements have cited different dues totals of about Rs 12,000 crore and Rs 15,000 crore. The government’s latest relevant statement, issued on August 14, says Rs 2,400 crore has been allocated annually under a new system in which reimbursement funds will be deposited directly into students’ accounts. It does not say how much earlier arrears have been cleared or address the competing claims.
The Congress government has announced a payment mechanism. It has not publicly answered the arrears arithmetic that brought the BJP to its gates. The barricades, at least, appear to have received a clearer brief.