VIJAYAWADA: Tension prevailed in the capital region of Amaravati on Tuesday with police foiling attempts by the farmers to stage Maha Dharna against the proposed split of the capital three ways, backed by TDP and Left parties.
Early in the morning, a large number of people including women came on the National Highway 16 at Chinna Kakani and Managalagiri to stage a sit-in decrying the injustice being meted out to them by the proposal to split the capital and relocating the major chunk of it to Visakhapatnam.
Vehicular traffic for several kilometers on both sides came to halt with farmers’ rasta-roko and police, who were deployed there in large numbers had a hard time regulating the traffic. Even the convoy of minister for education Adimulapu Suresh got stuck in the traffic jam and after much effort, police successfully cleared the way for the minister’s convoy.
Police arrested several protestors including TDP Guntur district president GV Anjaneyulu and shifted to the various locations in Guntur and Managalagiri including Haai Land. Even after being brought to Haai Land, farmers staged dharna there protesting the highhandedness of police and the Government.
Meanwhile, security personnel were deployed in Amaravati, particularly on the roads leading to Secretariat in Velagapudi. Several shops in Mandadam and Velagapudi were closed temporarily
As a precautionary measure. several TDP leaders in both Krishna and Guntur district were put under house arrest. Former ministers P Pulla Rao, Nakka Anandbabu, Guntur MP Galla Jayadev, Vijayawada MP Kesineni Nani, TDP leaders Bode Prasad, Devineni Uma, Y Rajendra Prasad, and others were put under house arrest. CPI and CPM leaders were also put under house arrest.