VIJAYAWADA: Condemning the arrest of TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu, Opposition leaders launched a broadside against the YSRC government and Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Leading the attack, TDP general secretary and Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh, who was at Podalada campsite in Razole constituency of the erstwhile East Godavari district as part of his Yuva Galam Padayatra, staged a sit-in when police prevented him from going to see his father in Vijayawada. Later, the police allowed Lokesh to go to Vijayawada. Along with his mother Bhuvaneshwari, Lokesh went to the SIT office to meet Naidu.
Describing the arrest of Naidu as illegal, TDP MPs Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu, Galla Jayadev and Kesineni Srinivas wrote letters to the President, the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister seeking their intervention in the matter. The TDP MPs urged the Centre to ensure that a thorough, transparent and impartial investigation is conducted into the allegations against Naidu and also direct the officials and agencies concerned to immediately release the TDP chief by upholding democratic values.
Terming the arrest of the former chief minister an atrocious act, Hindupur MLA Nandamuri Balakrishna accused Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy of resorting to vengeance instead of concentrating on the welfare of the people. Balakrishna arrived in Vijayawada to meet Naidu. Speaking to media persons, he felt that Jagan, who was in jail for 16 months, wants to see to it that Naidu too should be behind bars at least for 16 minutes. Balakrishna questioned the legality of the arrest of Naidu in the skill development corporation scam, particularly in the absence of concrete evidence.
Terming the arrest of Naidu a cowardly act, TDP Rajya Sabha MP Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar said the midnight arrests of not only the former chief minister but also other party activists, the prevention of cadre from staging protests and the creation of a tense atmosphere were nothing less than the imposition of an unspoken emergency in the State.
Coming down heavily on Jagan for the illegal arrest of Naidu, who has been in politics for more than four decades, Kanakamedala felt that this kind of action was the culmination of lawlessness. Stating that the TDP would certainly take legal recourse, the MP said Naidu’s arrest should be condemned by one and all those who have faith in democracy.
Denouncing the arrest of Naidu, the TDP rank and file staged protests across the State on Saturday. Anticipating trouble, the police placed several TDP leaders under house arrest and shifted some of them to police stations after taking them into preventive custody.