A tense scene played out inside the Telangana Assembly complex on Tuesday after Raju, the personal secretary (PS) to IAS officer Naveen Mittal, suddenly collapsed while going about his duties. Minister Vakiti Srihari, who happened to be present nearby, rushed to his side and immediately began giving him CPR, hoping to revive him before medical help could arrive.
CPR could not save him
According to the sequence of events, as soon as Raju collapsed, Minister Vakiti Srihari reacted without a moment's delay. Sensing the seriousness of the situation, he knelt beside Raju and personally administered CPR as emergency first aid, even as others in the Assembly complex looked on. Despite the minister's efforts, Raju's condition showed no signs of improvement. Medical staff were then called to the spot, and arrangements were made to rush him to a hospital in an ambulance. A short while after he was admitted, doctors examined him and declared him dead. Preliminary information suggests that Raju died of cardiac arrest.
He worked closely with the irrigation department's top official
IAS officer Naveen Mittal holds the post of Principal Secretary in the Telangana government's Irrigation Department. Raju served as his personal secretary and would typically accompany him for official engagements, including visits connected to Assembly proceedings. He was present inside the Assembly complex on Tuesday for one such official task when he collapsed.
Political tension inside the Assembly also boiled over
Even as the medical emergency was unfolding, the Telangana Assembly was already gripped by political turmoil over an objectionable remark made about the Assembly Speaker. Chief Minister Revanth Reddy went on to call the entire episode a "black day" for Telangana. Adding to the friction, police arrested two BRS MLCs, a move that pushed BRS leaders onto the streets in continuous protest against the state government.
KTR detained amid the standoff
In the midst of the unrest, police also took BRS working president K T Rama Rao, popularly known as KTR, into custody. KTR alleged that Telangana police were actively helping Congress workers and leaders make their way toward the residence of former Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, referred to as KCR, even as BRS leaders and workers trying to do the same were being stopped. Hitting out at the police directly, KTR said, "The police are helping those Congress goons and troublemakers who were thrown out of the city; they are being escorted to KCR's residence." His remark further heightened the tension building up outside the Assembly complex through the day.
The two events, a sudden medical tragedy involving a bureaucrat's aide and a political flashpoint inside the Assembly, unfolded almost in parallel through Tuesday, keeping the atmosphere at the Telangana Assembly complex tense right through the day. While doctors could not save Raju, the political stand-off between the BRS and the state government showed no signs of easing as protests continued.
