Bharatiya Janta Party leader and Union Minister of State for Home Bandi Sanjay Kumar has been detained by the Telangana Police today, October 19, after he visited the protest site of the Telangana Public Service Commission Group 1 aspirants at Ashok Nagar, a major coaching hub in Hyderabad.

His visit to the protest site led to rising tensions in the area, where aspirants had been protesting for the past four days, demanding exam postponement.

Sanjay Kumar arrived at the site with his supporters, spoke with the demonstrators, and joined them in their sit-in, reports Telangana Today.

Before his detainment, he also declared that he would remain with the demonstrators till they received justice.

Earlier, after Sanjay Kumar said that he would be visiting Ashok Nagar, police enhanced their presence in the area and began preventing Group 1 applicants from leaving their dormitories.

However, several people were able to get past the cops and make their way to the main hub, where they joined the rest of the demonstrators.

Many female applicants alleged that cops lathi-charged them indiscriminately and detained them for more than 12 hours.

The aspirants are protesting against the Government Order 29 (GO 29), which amends the selection ratio of 1:50. They allege that this amendment makes it difficult for reserved category candidates to get selected in the TGPSC.

Currently, petitions challenging GO 29 have been listed in both the Supreme Court of India and Telangana High Court.