In a high drama that ran for over an hour, Telugu Desam Party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu courted arrest by the police after stalling the traffic on the national highway at busy Benz Circle in Vijayawada for over an hour on Wednesday night.
Despite police restrictions and lack of permission, Naidu tried to flag off a bus yatra of Amaravati farmers who formed into a joint action committee and planned to tour all the 13 districts to highlight their demand for retaining the state capital at Amaravati, instead of being shifted to Visakhapatnam.
Apart from Naidu, his son Nara Lokesh, TDP leaders Kesineni Nani, K Atchen Niadu, N Rama Naidu, Y V B Rajendra Prasad and Ashok Babu, besides Amaravati Joint Action Committee convener Siva Reddy and leaders of other parties were also taken into custody.
Interestingly, the police did not book any case against Naidu and others till the last reports came in but took them in police vans and straightaway dropped them at Naidu’s residence at Vundavalli.
The drama began with Naidu and others attending the inauguration of the Amaravati farmers’ JAC office at Benz Circle.
After making provocative speeches, Naidu, along with others started walking up to Autonagar, where he was to flag off the bus yatra, for which the police had not given any permission.
The police who were already deployed in big numbers did not allow Naidu and others to proceed further as there was no permission. This led to a tense situation, as Naidu argued with the police as to why they were not giving permission to a democratic bus yatra.
But the police were firm in refusing to allow him further. An angry Naidu and others staged a dharna on the road, blocking the traffic for over an hour.
Later, the police took Naidu and others into custody and cleared the traffic.
