Tension gripped different parts of south coastal Andhra Pradesh in the wake of the arrest of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national president and former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu at Nandyal on Saturday.
Scores of TDP leaders including party Polit Bureau member Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy, Nellore Rural MLA Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy, his brother Kotamreddy Giridhar Reddy and Kondepi MLA Dola Bala Veeranjaneya swamy and Ongole Lok Sabha unit President N. Balaji were placed under house arrest as TDP activists staged protests sporadically across the region. Mr. Sridhar Reddy had a heated argument with the police who entered his house without showing notice for his arrest.
Bus services to different destinations were disrupted from, among other cities, Nellore and Ongole, leaving a large number of passengers stranded at the bus stations en route.
Limited number of bus services were operated to provide some relief to stranded passengers without entering cities like Guntur and Vijayawada, where the bus services had been withdrawn anticipating trouble. ‘‘Expecting the situation to improve by evening, we will resume more bus services later in the day’‘ Andhra Pradesh Road Transport Corporation Prakasam Regional Manager B.Sudhakar told The Hindu.
Strongly condemning the arrest of the party supremo, Mr. Chandramohan Reddy said it was unfortunate that the YSR Congress Party Government was resorting to ‘‘political vendetta’‘ and disallowing the opposition party to even stage protests by ‘‘misusing’‘ the police force.
‘’The TDP will fight the foisted case against Mr. Naidu legally and politically and come out unscathed’‘. People would teach a lessson to the YSR Congress Party at the time of elections, he said, adding discontinuance of the programme to skill youth by the Jagan Mohan Reddy Government had put paid to the hopes of unemployed youth eke out a livelihood with dignity.
Protesting against the ‘‘undemocratic’‘ arrest of Mr. Naidu by the CID police, Dr. Swamy said ‘‘the days of YSRCP Government, which is becoming more unpopular day after day, are numbered’‘. The YSRCP was jittery over the growing popularity of the TDP and its chief, he maintained.
