Intensifying their protest against the State government's plan of building a new Secretariat and Assembly, the opposition parties on Thursday organised a dharna and tried to take out a rally to Secretriat which was foiled by the police. Police took the agitating leaders into preventive custody and released all of them after few hours.

Earlier, politicians and activists held a protest meeting at Dharna Chowk, Indira Park. Addressing the meeting, TJS chief Prof Kodandaram emphasized on upping the ante on this issue by involving people from all sections. Public money should be spent on the needs of people and not for luxurious purposes, he said. Senior BJP leader D K Aruna lashed out at CM K Chandrashekar Rao for his unilateral decision to demolish Secretariat buildings. She warned that opposition parties would not relent until the government withdraws its plans which would only lead to waste of public money.