YSR Congress Party president and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy was detained at the Visakhapatnam airport when he arrived from Hyderabad at about 4.15 p.m. on Thursday.
He was here to take part in the proposed candlelight march on RK Beach Road to demand Special Category Status (SCS) for Andhra Pradesh.
Party leaders V. Vijaysai Reddy, Y.V. Subba Reddy and Ambati Rambabu, who accompanied him, were also detained.
The police told Mr. Jagan that he would not be allowed to enter Visakhapatnam for the protest.
Mr. Jagan and the other leaders responded with a sit-in protest on the airport tarmac, before returning to Hyderabad by flight at about 7 p.m. There was heavy security around the airport and only persons with tickets were allowed in.
The Andhra Pradesh government had not given permission for rallies till January 28, in view the red alert from the Intelligence Bureau and the 23rd CII Partnership Summit scheduled for Friday.
Preventive custody
YSRC leaders Botsa Satyanaryana and G. Amarnath, who tried to reach RK Beach, were stopped midway and taken into preventive custody.
Leaders of YSRC, CPI(M) and the CPI and about 600 activists of the Pawan Kalyan-led Jana Sena were taken into preventive custody.
Ramakrishna Beach is packed with visitors on holidays, but wore a deserted look.
The only presence was that of police, who took over the beach and the 4-km beach road from VUDA Park to Naval Coast Battery.
