Hyderabad: Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar -- who was arrested amid midnight drama on Wednesday -- has been granted bail. On Wednesday, he was sent to jail for two weeks.
Taken into police custody on Tuesday night, the MP from Karimnagar was later arrested over the leak of secondary school exam papers -- a charge that his party has dismissed as politically motivated.
His arrest has set off a huge political row and drew criticism from the party's Central leadership in New Delhi.
Mr Kumar, the state BJP claimed, was taken into custody from his home around 11 pm without any explanation. Thereafter, he was apparently moved to various police stations across different districts, raising questions about his whereabouts and safety.
The BJP welcomed the Warrangal court's bail decision. State BJP spokesperson NV Subhash said, "Finally truth won the political war orchestrated by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao".
"This is a slap on the face of the Chief Minister and his Bharat Raksha Samithi as they wanted to keep Bandi Sanjay inside the jail and prevent him from participating in the Prime Minister's programmes on April 8 by implicating him in a false case," he said.
In an open letter, Mr Kumar said such conspiracies would not demoralise the party and the cadre.
"Arresting me and harassing the BJP workers were like hitting the ball to the ground. We shall only bounce back with the same force," he wrote in the letter to the party cadre amid the BJP's foundation day celebrations.
The BJP, which is trying to carve out a niche in the country's youngest state, has accused Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao of corruption, nepotism and minority appeasement. Mr Rao's government has been in power in the state since its creation in 2014.
The BJP, which won four parliamentary seats of the state in 2019, is hoping for bigger gains in the assembly election due later this year.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit the state to inaugurate several development projects and address a public rally.