HYDERABAD: YSR Telangana Party  president Y S Sharmila on Sunday attacked Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR)  by accusing him of acting like the "Taliban" and compared the state as the "Afghanistan of India".

Earlier in the day, Sharmila was taken into preventive custody in Mahabubabad district with regard to a a case registered against her for making alleged derogatory remarks against BRS MLA Banoth Shankar Naik and brought to Hyderabad.

Speaking to reporters here, she said: "Telangana Chief Minister KCR is a dictator, a tyrant. There is no Indian Constitution in Telangana. There is only KCR's Constitution. Telangana is the Afghanistan of India and KCR is its Taliban".

After a complaint by a local BRS leader, who claimed that Sharmila had "insulted" the tribal legislator through her words during her current statewide padayatra "Praja Prasthanam" in Mahabubabad district on Saturday, Sharmila was arrested under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. As a result of protests by BRS party members calling for Sharmila to be held accountable after her statement sparked them, the police said they had revoked permission for the foot march due to the law and order situation.

She has been shifted to Hyderabad for her own protection, a senior police source informed PTI. "We have taken her into preventive custody." When asked what she will do next, Sharmila responded: "KCR is illiterate in democratic jargon. I must therefore probably go to court again and request a new permission (for the padayatra) ". She said that the Legislator and other BRS leaders had called her names and used offensive language against her.

"We merely gave him a stern reply and gave him the same amount back. Don't I have a basic right to respond to it as a woman?" Sharmila claimed that her padayatra was attacked in addition. "The law and order issue was willfully made by the BRS. My escort car was totaled. They were the ones that caused the law and order issue, and I was then held responsible. I was taken into custody and taken to Hyderabad.

Telangana has little respect for women. All women should speak out against the slurs directed at a woman who is defending the rights of Telangana's citizens "She spoke. She claimed that KCR has been attempting to sabotage her padayatra and that the government has been breaking commitments made to the Telangana people. As Sharmila was conducting a padayatra in the Warangal area in November 2022, a caravan she was using was attacked and set on fire, and the windows of one vehicle were also broken.

Party members had revolted when Sharmila made comments on BRS Legislator P Sudarshan Reddy in Narsampet. Police then stopped Sharmila due to the law and order situation, and they sent her back to Hyderabad under police guard even as they "temporarily rescinded" the padayatra's permit.

As the YSRTP moved the court and questioned the police's denial of permission, the Telangana High Court ordered the police to give Sharmila permission to resume her padayatra with constraints in December 2022.

The padayatra of Sharmila, sister of the current AP Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and daughter of previous CM of undivided Andhra Pradesh Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, has already travelled more than 3,800 km and would have completed 4,111 km when it reaches Palair in Khammam district.

The party recently announced that a significant public gathering would take place on March 5 in Palair, where the padayatra is expected to come to an end. On October 20, 2021, the padayatra set out from Chevella.

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