VIJAYAWADA: Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan was taken into custody by Jaggaiahpet police at Anumanchipalle in the NTR district around 11.30 pm on Saturday. Later, he was shifted to Jaggaiahpet police station.
A tense situation prevailed at Jaggaiahpet in the NTR district near the AP-Telangana border, when police stopped Pawan from going to his party headquarters in Mangalagiri to attend the PAC meeting scheduled to be held on Sunday and call on TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, who was arrested in connection with the skill development corporation scam.
Earlier in the day, Pawan was denied permission to board a special flight at Begumpet Airport by the authorities at the request of Krishna district police. In a letter written to the Director, of Gannavaram International Airport, Krishna district SP P Joshuva said the JSP chief is set to arrive at Gannavaram Airport after 4 pm.
In view of the present law and order situation, which is extremely volatile, his arrival might lead to large-scale public mobilisation and serious law and order issues. The airport authorities were urged to deny permission for the landing of Pawan’s special flight, so as to avoid any law and order problem in the State.
Peeved over the denial of permission for his flight to Vijayawada, Pawan started to go to Mangalagiri by road and when he reached the Garikapadu checkpost on the AP-Telangana border, AP police stopped his convoy. There was a heated argument and with vehicular traffic on the route being held up, police allowed the convoy.
However, it was once again stopped at Anumanchapalle, which saw angry Pawan commenting “It seems we need visa and passport to come to Andhra Pradesh”.
He got down from his vehicle and started to walk. After being pacified by the police, he got back into his vehicle but sat on its roof waiting for the outcome of discussions between police and JSP leader Nadendla Manohar. Later, police took Pawan and Manohar into custody.
Taking to Twitter, State BJP chief D Purandeswari found fault with the arrest of Naidu without giving prior notice. “It is not reasonable to arrest Naidu without giving proper notice, without naming him in the FIR, without taking an explanation, without following the procedure. BJP condemns it,” she said.