TDP bandh fizzles out as leaders taken into custody

Public transport and business establishments run as usual

TDP activists staging a rasta-roko at Jagadamba Junction on Wednesday.

The bandh called by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in protest against the attack on the party offices in Visakhapatnam and elsewhere in the State hardly had any impact in the city as well as in the district, as the party leaders were either confined to their houses or taken into custody by the police on Wednesday.

Except for some protests and rallies at a few places, the bandh was ineffective, and the TDP leaders blamed the government for taking most of its leaders into custody.

The YSRCP activists allegedly attacked the TDP offices at different places in the State on Tuesday after TDP leader K. Pattabhiram allegedly made some derogatory remarks on Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

The call for the bandh was given by TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu in protest against the attack on the party offices. The bandh had a little impact as RTC buses, private vehicles and business establishments ran as usual.

Several TDP activists, who squatted on the road at the Jagadamba Junction were taken into custody by the police. At Bheemunipatnam, the TDP leaders took out a rally. The protesters were taken into custody when they tried to stage a sit-in at the junction. At Narsipatnam, TDP activists led by Ch. Ayyanna Patrudu took out a rally.

“We were preparing to participate in the bandh, when the police confined us to out houses. The opposition parties have the right to protest in a peaceful manner. The bandh was called for upholding the democracy. The police force was used to stifle the protest and it is not a solution,” said TDP Parliamentary constituency president Palla Srinivasa Rao.

According to him, the police reportedly took into custody many party leaders in the wee hours of Wednesday between 2 a.m. to 4 a.m, or had deployed personnel in front of their houses right from the Tuesday midnight.

All the 31 corporators of the TDP were either taken into preventive custody or were confined to their houses, said Mr. Srinivasa Rao.

He deplored the ‘dictatorial’ attitude of the YSRCP government and the ‘abusive’ language used by Anakapalle MLA Gudivada Amarnath against Mr. Naidu.

TDP State president K. Atchannaidu was also confined to his house.