VIJAYAWADA : Even as investigation continues into the attack on Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's during his ‘Memantha Siddham’ campaign in Vijayawada on Saturday, several questions remain unanswered as to why the Chief Minister spent more than five hours on the route in Vijayawada city which made him a sitting duck for the attack.
Senior police officials, on condition of anonymity, told TNIE that Vijayawada city police had initially expressed their reservation and concern over Jagan’s safety when the CM’s programme coordination team and other officials concerned came up with the route map, which showed that the cavalcade would have to pass through congested localities in Vijayawada.
It is also learnt that Vijayawada police examined the proposed routes and suggested alternative routes in order to avoid untoward incidents during the Chief Minister’s tour in the city. However, the plan was not changed and the programme coordination team stuck to the original route proposed.
After completing his tour in Guntur district on Saturday afternoon, Jagan entered Vijayawada at Kanaka Durgamma Varadhi as Devineni Avinash, Velampalli Srinivasa Rao, Shaik Asif, Jogi Ramesh and others welcomed him.
Proceeding further, the cavalcade of Jagan crossed the junction and took the Water tank road which is 60 feet wide having electrical wires and other cables dangling.
“At one point of time, Jagan found it very difficult to stand on the bus as tree branches and cables touched him several times,” said a local resident of Labbipet.
Jagan’s bus yatra from Labbipet to Ramavarappadu junction covered major junctions like Sikhamani centre, Nice Bar junction, Metro Junction, Chuttugunta junction, BRTS road point, Food Junction, sharp curve at Gowtham Reddy’s house, narrow bridge at Ajith Singh Nagar and another narrow Daba Kottu centre road and then to Pipula Road and reached Ramavarappadu via inner ring road.
“In the entire eight kilometre stretch from Labbipet to Pipula Road junction, Jagan travelled around 4 kilometres in the congested roads and problematic locations, where there is a possibility of serious breach of security. In some places, the road is less than 40 feet wide,” a senior official said on the condition of anonymity.
Sources told TNIE that Vijayawada police suggested an alternative route through Benz circle and other roads. However, the programme coordination team ignored he caution and asked the police to make security arrangements for the chief minister’s convoy on the original route.
The route which was proposed by the programme coordination team was planned in a manner that it would benefit two MLA candidates — Devineni Avinash and Velampalli Srinivasa Rao — who are contesting from East and Central constituencies. “In order to create more impact, Jagan was taken in narrow roads and densely populated areas,” another official from the intelligence department said.
During the entire journey, both the intelligence department and NTR district police were on tenterhooks with the convoy moving through the narrow lanes.
However, the convoy passed without any hitch through the places where trouble was anticipated. Police were worried about places like Sikhamani centre, Food junction and a narrow curve behind the food junction, but something unexpected happened at Vivekananda School, sources said.