TDP MP held over AP capital protest

A Telugu Desam Party MP was arrested in the wee hours of Tuesday, in connection with a farmers' protest and remanded to judicial custody.

A case under various non-bailable sections of IPC was registered against Guntur MP Galla Jayadev and he was arrested after Monday midnight, police said.

The MP was produced before the Mangalagiri magistrate about 3 am. He was denied bail and was later lodged in the Guntur sub jail around 4.30 am.

Hundreds of farmers and women almost reached the Legislature complex, defying prohibitory order and breaking police security cordon on Monday as part of the ongoing agitation demanding that Amaravati be retained as the state capital.

Some of the protesters allegedly pelted stones at the police personnel, resulting in injuries to at least six constables, according to Guntur Rural SP C Vijaya Rao.

Followers of the Guntur MP were also allegedly involved in the attack on police personnel.

Meanwhile, TDP Chief Chandrababu Naidu and several MLAs of his party, who were taken into custody as they attempted to carry out a foot march from the Assembly to the nearby Mandadam village late on Monday night were taken on a ride in police vehicles around various villages in the capital region.

Even after the Chief Minister's convoy reached his residence at the end of the day's session of Assembly, the police did not release Naidu and other TDP leaders.

They were finally set free only after midnight.

TDP state president K Kala Venkata Rao strongly condemned the police action.