Stir over Amaravati: TDP chief, other leaders held in Vijayawada

TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu and several other leaders were taken into custody by police in Vijayawada on Wednesday (January 8) when they tried to take out a “bus rally” in solidarity with the farmers’ agitation demanding that Amaravati be continued as Andhra Pradesh’s capital.

Naidu’s son Lokesh, TDP senior leaders K Atchannaidu and other leaders were among those detained on Wednesday night, police said. They were shifted to a police bus to be driven away. However, it led to tension as TDP workers resisted the police move and blocked the bus.

In the meanwhile, the ignition key of the police bus mysteriously disappeared, as a result of which it got stuck on the busy Benz Circle. Tension continued in the area as police sought to use force to disperse the protesting TDP workers.

The farmers, who have given their land for development of Amaravati as the state capital, have been on a protest for the past 23 days, opposing the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy
governments move to relocate it to Visakhapatnam.