Naidu condemns house arrest of former MLAs, TDP leaders ahead of special session of Andhra assembly

TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu has condemned the house arrest of his party leaders and former MLAs ahead of the special session of the state assembly on three capitals issue put forward by Andhra Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

"House arrest of party leaders and Amaravati JAC leaders is condemnable. Suppression of public voice is undemocratic and against the Constitution. Even during the Emergency, it was much better," Naidu said.

In the wake of ''Chalo Assembly (Let's march to assembly)'' call against the state government by Amaravati Parirakahana Samiti and TDP, the police have detained and house arrested TDP leaders from across the state late night.

"Every citizen has the right to protest, and nobody has the power to prevent fundamental rights. YSRCP government is acting in such a way that the fundamental constitutional principles are being violated," he said.

"Police using brute force is highly condemnable. The house arrests and illegal arrests must be immediately stopped. They should be immediately freed, he added.

Also, the TDP state unit president K Kala Venkatrao has strongly condemned the house arrests of their party leaders. Public agitation cannot be stopped by police action, he said in a statement adding that the YSRCP government is acting in an undemocratic manner.

Former minister and TDP leader Nakka Anand Babu has also been house arrested at his residence in Guntur. TDP MLC Buddha Venkanna is also house arrested. As there is no session of the AP legislative council, the MLC is about to take part in Chalo Assembly agitation. As a precautionary measure, the police has carried out the arrests.

Former minister Prattipati Pullarao was house arrested in Chilakaluri, while the TDP leader K Ravi Kumar, former MLAs Ramana Murty and Venkataramana were arrested in Srikakulam. Former MLAs Kondababu and Anantalakshmi were house arrested in Kakinada.

Several protests had erupted in the state, the GN Rao Committee, which was set up by the Andhra Pradesh government to look into the suggestion of three capitals had earlier made a favourable recommendation saying the move will help in decentralising development and putting the available resources to the best use.

It proposed Visakhapatnam as the executive capital and Kurnool the judicial capital while retaining Amaravati as the legislative capital.