HYDERABAD: The day began and ended with high drama as Congress Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal was taken into preventive custody twice since his arrival in the city this morning as part of his proposed agitation in support of Unified Andhra Pradesh.
Police were on a high alert following Rajagopal's announcement to go on an indefinite fast in the city and had a tough time in tracking down the MP's movements.
Rajagopal's attempt to go on a fast at the Lal Bahadur stadium in the night was foiled as police took the MP along with 16 Congress MLAs and a MLC into preventive custody. After meeting Chief Minister K Rosaiah during the day and later meeting the Congress elected representatives who resigned in favour of unified State at the Assembly, Rajagopal along with MLAs and MLCs walked his way to the stadium. Entering through the Sports Authority of AP main gate, Rajagopal, the MLAs and MLCs walked into the cricket stadium and squatted raising slogans in favour of `Samaikhya Andhra.' After allowing the MP to stay in the stadium for halfan- hour, police swung into action.
The police action was also not without much drama.
As the elected representatives huddled on each other, police `advised' them to sit in a free position.
As the leaders were freeing themselves, Task Force sleuths swooped on the MP. As two Task Force sleuths bodily lifted Rajagopal, he escaped from their hands and ran away. Unluckily for Rajagopal, he ran towards the side where police vehicles were waiting and he was bundled into one of them.
The MPs and other elected representatives were shifted to different police stations in the city.
Earlier in the day, Rajagopal was taken into custody when he along with his followers tried to proceed to the Chief Minister's house from the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Shamshabad.
Rajagopal arrived at the airport around 9 a.m. Though police erected checkposts and made preventive arrests to prevent Rajagopal's supporters from reaching the airport, 50-odd supporters managed to sneak in. As soon as Rajagopal came out of the airport, his supporters shielded him preventing police to reach near him. Slogans supporting Unified Andhra vented the air. Anticipating trouble, huge number of policemen including Rapid Action Force (RAF) was deployed at the airport. Initially, Rajagopal went near a waiting car and almost boarded in it. Suddenly, he took a tri-colour from his supporters and walked out of the airport premises.
Police swiftly cordoned off Rajagopal and after he walked for nearly half-a-kilometre blocked his way and shifted him into a police vehicle even as the followers resisted the police.
From there, the scene shifted to Pahadisharief police station where Rajagopal was made to sit for more than an hour. ``How can the police stop a MP from meeting a Chief Minister,'' he questioned and as a mark of protest slept in the police station premises.
State Police official spokesperson A R Anuradha said the MP was taken into custody as a preventive measure. ``We would not have objected if he had went alone.
He was going in a rally and was taken into custody,'' she said.
Rajagopal initially proposed to take out a padayatra from the Pahadisharief police to the CM's residence. Anticipating that it would vitiate the volatile situation, police escorted him to the CM's residence. By the time, Rajagopal reached the CM's residence hundreds of his followers gathered there and raised slogans in favour of Unified Andhra.
Meanwhile, reacting to any action on the MP for his television advertisements in favour of Unified State, Anuradha said the advertisements were not provocative in nature and added albeit in a lighter vein, ``good revenue for the channels.''