Tension in OU as BRSV leaders join protest

Hyderabad: There was heavy tension at the Osmania University campus on Wednesday, the second day of the sit-in. Police have arrested several BRSV leaders from the NRS hostel on the OU campus for supporting the unemployed youths over their demands. A group of unemployed youths were staging a sit-in demanding the state government to postpone the DSC exam for teacher recruitment and announce a job calendar. The BRSV leaders extended their support and sat on the dharna along with the agitating unemployed youths. Police felt that a law and order problem would arise when the students’ union leaders and activists started arriving at the sit-in venue in large numbers. Police forces rushed to the spot and arrested the BRSV and other student leaders who were staging the sit-in. Police said that the police acted on the protesters at the Arts College campus to bring normalcy on the campus. Several Telangana Students Council (TSP) leaders, who had given a call to gherao the house of Prof M Kodandaram over his silence on the delay in the appointment of regular vice-chancellors in state universities, were also taken into custody by the police. TSP president Bairi Ashok Kumar said TSP leaders were detained from their hostel for raising the issue and calling for a gherao of the professor’s house. Police also detained a local TV journalist covering the protest at the Osmania University (OU) campus. Sricharan Sharma was covering the protest by teaching aspirants as part of his assignment, who are demanding jobs. In a widely circulated video, policemen are seen forcibly forcing Sharma into their vehicle by grabbing his shirt collar.