Tension prevailed as senior Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders and Mahila wing members were detained by the city police from staging protests against the arrest of TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu.
Former MLA & TDP Visakhapatnam Parliamentary Constituency president Palla Srinivasa Rao, Visakhapatnam (East) MLA Velagapudi Ramakrishna Babu who had arrived at the Mahatma Gandhi Statue near the GVMC main office to stage protest being organised by the TDP leaders were forcibly shifted to III Town police station by police force. Along with them, a number of Mahila wing leaders were also detained and shifted to various police stations.
Speaking during the detainment, Palla Srinivasa Rao said that the TDP has proposed to stage peaceful protest against the arrest of their party chief. However, the government is trying to squash it. In Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy led YSRCP government, there is no democracy. MLA V. Ramakrishna Babu entered into an argument asking the police the reason for their arrest.
Former Minister and Visakhapatnam North MLA Ganta Srinivasa Rao staged a protest at his residence along with supporters with placards – ‘We Stand with CBN’.
Meanwhile, led by former MLA Gandi Babji, members of the TDP have been also staging protest at the TDP office. Tension prevailed as a large number of police were mobilised at the TDP office. The TDP leaders said that the police have arranged barricades at the entrance of the office and are not allowing anyone into the office. They described the situation as an ‘assault to democracy’.
