The Revanth Reddy vs KT Rama Rao spat – which has included jabs over Telangana hosting the Miss World pageant and the arrest of two women journalists – continued Thursday with the Chief Minister’s comment about “16 harrowing nights in jail” in 2020, for flying a drone, when KTR’s party was in power.

Addressing the Assembly this afternoon, the Chief Minister declared he had been “unfairly arrested” and sent to a high-security prison that also housed terrorists.

“For 16 days I was kept in solitary confinement… not allowed to see anyone. Even then, I swallowed my anger and continued working for the state’s welfare,” he said, pointing out also the law only prescribed a Rs 500 fine for the misdemeanour with which he had been charged.

He claimed his cell had bright lights left on all night and was unsanitary and unhygienic, and declared, “If needed, I can take MLAs and ministers there to show them the reality.”

When released, Mr Reddy claimed he slept under a tree to “recover from the ordeal”.

Mr Rao – who this month labelled the Chief Minister a “mad dog” – snapped back, asking his rival, “Did you go to jail for participating in the freedom struggle? If someone flies a drone over your Jubilee Hills palace, and takes photos of your wife or children… will you stay silent?”

“When it is about your family you react,” he thundered, referring to Mr Reddy’s outburst last week against social media posts that, the Chief Minister claimed, abused his family members.

Responding to the BRS’ condemnation of the arrest of the women journalists – who got bail, but not till a week after their arrest – Mr Reddy had said, “… how long should I be tolerant when bad language has been used against the women in my family?” and called for offenders to be “stripped and paraded”.

The “16 harrowing nights” reference was to a case in which Revanth Reddy was accused of piloting a drone over KT Rama Rao’s farmhouse. Mr Reddy was arrested and jailed for two weeks.

However, last week the Telangana High Court quashed the complaint, noting first the area had not been declared a prohibited zone and there had been no mention of KTR or his farmhouse in the police complaint, and second, that the charges in the FIR referred to misapplied provisions.

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