Mild tension was witnessed in Gudivada constituency on September 24 (Saturday) when the local police obstructed the Amaravati-to-Arasavalli maha padayatra by farmers and residents of the Amaravati region.
The farmers’ march entered the constituency on Friday and on Saturday, the 14 th day of the yatra, as they started their onward journey, the local police obstructed them insisting that only farmers who had the ID cards would be allowed to go ahead. ID cards have been issued to 650 farmers following a directive by the High Court that they should not be prevented from going ahead with their yatra and also, that any number of local farmers or people in general could visit the yatra to express solidarity with their cause.
The police started checking the ID-cards at Kankipadu check post and shifted around 20 farmers to the local police station for not being in possession of the identity cards.
Leaders of Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi Joint Action Committee (JAC), leading the farmers’ rally, strongly criticised the move saying that the local farmers who had come to express solidarity with their Amaravati farmers who were fighting a peaceful battle for a just cause, were being harassed by the Gudivada police. “We did not have much problem with the police anywhere else. But the ‘over-enthusiastic’ Gudivada DSP is causing inconvenience to the farmers,” G. Tirupati Rao, co-convenor of the JAC told The Hindu.
He also found fault with the police bringing tear gas vehicles to the venue. The farmers alleged that the police were acting at the behest of former Minister and YSR Congress Party leader Kodali Nani who is from Gudivada constituency.
