The Hyderabad Police on Monday detained several Bharatiya Janata Party members who were protesting against Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao for allegedly abusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

BJP state president K Laxman, MLC N Ramchandra Rao, MLA Ramchandra Reddy and former legislator Badam Bal Reddy were put under house arrest while nearly 200 party workers were taken into preventive custody, The Hindu reported. The police also stopped a group of BJP workers from protesting at the chief minister’s official residence in Begumpet.

The party demanded that Rao withdraw his comments against Modi. “Today we have called for gherao of Pragati Bhawan,” Laxman told ANI. “The Hyderabad Police has put me on house arrest. My fundamental rights have been curtailed by this government.”

On Saturday, Rao had hinted at forming a Third Front – one without the BJP and the Congress – ahead of the 2019 General Election. “I have nothing against the BJP, but it has failed to deliver [and] that is why a third front may emerge which will unite like-minded people,” Rao said. “I am against the slow progress that this country is making.”

Political leaders like West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader Asaduddin Owaisi have backed Rao’s proposal.