After the arrest of YSR Congress Party president and Kadapa Parliament Member Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy in disproportionate assets case, at 7.20 p.m. on Sunday, police sounded high alert and deployed forces at many places to prevent any eventuality in Krishna district.
Pickets and additional forces were arranged at bus stations and other public places. A vigil was kept on YSRCP leaders in the district and the police were preventing the activists from travelling to Hyderabad. Police took YSRCP leader Vangaveeti Santan Kumar into custody in Vijayawada.
City Police Commissioner N. Madhusudhan Reddy, DCP M. Ravindranath Babu, Krishna District Superintendent of Police R. Jayalakshmi and other police officials were monitoring the law and order situation. Section.144 was clamped in the entire district and trouble mongers were taken into custody at a few places in the district, said Ms. Jayalakshmi.
Buses cancelled
The APSRTC Vijayawada Zone Executive Director (ED) M.S. Prakasa Rao said as per the information two buses were damaged in Krishna district and no incidents were reported in West Godavari and Guntur districts.
“As per the advise of police, the Corporation suspended services to Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Bangalore, Chennai, Tirupati, Rajahmundry and other destinations from Krishna, West Godavari and Guntur districts in the zone”, the ED said. An alert was sounded and security stepped up at all Government offices and at houses of the MPs, ministers and MLAs.
Vehicle check-up and frisking was being done on the two National Highways leading to the city and other main roads.
Additional forces were pressed into service at Machilipatnam, Gudivada, Jaggaiahpeta, Nandigama, Gudivada, Avanigadda, Tiruvuru and other towns in Krishna district on Sunday. Police intensified patrolling to prevent trouble in villages.
Tension mounted in Vijayawada city and other parts of the district till late in the night as there was a possibility of YSRCP workers resorting to violence, after the arrest of Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy. Heavy rush was seen at the bus stations with the passengers and the students who thronged the city to appear for APPSC examinations getting stranded due to cancellations of the buses.
The RTC officials cancelled all the inter-city buses from 7 p.m. onwards.
Security has been intensified at the vital installations and residences of the important public representatives belonging to the ruling Congress party in the town. A group of the YSRCP activists staged a demonstration at Mayuri centre in the town on Sunday night in protest against the reported arrest of Mr. Jagan. Tension prevailed at the busy junction when the police tried to whisk away the agitated party cadres from the site. Similar protest demonstrations were organised by the YSRCP cadres at several other towns in the district denouncing the arrest of their party leader.
Police stepped up security in the town and elsewhere in Prakasam district even as YSRCP activists staged a novel agitation in Ongole in protest against the arrest of YSRC Chief Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy on “trumped up charges''.
Led by former Minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy they tied their mouths with black ribbons and tookout a march on the arterial trunk road. They prayed in-front of the statue of late Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy to “protect his son''.
Meanwhile, the district police deployed its entire police force on the roads in Ongole and other parts of Prakasam district to avert any untoward incidents. Superintendent of Police K. Raghuram Reddy said pickets had been posted to protect vital installations including bus stations, petrol bunks, cell towers, offices and residences of TDP leaders. ''We have taken undertaking from YSRCP leaders for good behaviour'', he added.
Travelling public had a tough time in reaching their destinations as RTC authorities withdrew buses as a precautionary measure.
