Police foiled the attempts of Mylavaram MLA and TDP district president Devineni Umamaheswara Rao to launch hunger strike protesting the CWC decision to bifurcate the State, here on Saturday.
The police took Mr. Umamaheswara Rao and other leaders into preventive custody even before they launched their hunger strike on M.G. Road as it amounted to violation of election code of conduct in view of the Avanigadda by-election on August 21.
The police cordoned off the residences of Mr. Umamaheswara Rao and TDP Vijayawada (Central) in-charge Bonda Umamaheswara Rao, who were scheduled to launch the fast. The police in plain clothes in good numbers kept a tab on the movement of the Telugu Desam leaders. The Mylavaram MLA garlanded the NTR statue at Gollapudi on the city outskirts. The police bundled him into a van and did not allow any other party workers to board the vehicle. They took him to Machavaram police station. None could guess where the TDP leader was being taken. The police took Mr. Bonda Umamaheswara Rao into custody as soon as he stepped out of his residence. He was shifted to Patamata police station. TDP Vijayawada Parliamentary constituency in-charge Kesineni Srinivas (Nani), TDP urban president K. Nagul Meera and Devineni Chandrasekhar, who went to express their solidarity with Mylavaram MLA, were also taken into preventive custody. All of them were granted bail at the police station, but the Mylavaram MLA rejected it and refused to come out of the station. The police planned to shift him to his residence in a van and step up vigil near his residence to ensure that he does not come back to Bandar Road to launch the strike.
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The election code will be in force till August 27.