The police clamped prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC across the state, while the TDP called for a statewide bandh on Monday.
Published Sep 10, 2023 | 11:24 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 10, 2023 | 11:28 PM
Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan (left) speaks to party members at Mangalagiri in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday, 10 September, 2023. (Supllied)
Prohibitory orders were clamped across the state of Andhra Pradesh on Sunday moments after TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu was remanded to judicial custody. Even as prohibitory orders under section 144 of CrPC have been issued by the police, TDP has called for a statewide bandh on Monday.
The orders and TDP’s response to it came even as Naidu was driven to Rajamahendravaram (Rajahmundry) central jail.
I write to you today with a heart heavy with pain and eyes moistened with tears. I've grown up watching my father pour his heart and soul into the betterment of Andhra Pradesh and the Telugu people. He never knew a day of rest, tirelessly striving to transform millions of lives.… pic.twitter.com/dF5cBYgsvG
— Lokesh Nara (@naralokesh) September 10, 2023
The YSRCP and the Jana Sena reacted on predictable lines to an Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) court remanding TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu to judicial custody on Sunday, 10 September, for his alleged involvement in the ₹371-crore skill development scam.
Advisor to AP government on Public Affairs Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy told reporters after the ACB court’s ruling that former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu was outright guilty when it came to his involvement in the skill development scam.
He said Naidu was the main player in the scam, and that the CID had produced evidence of his involvement in the scam based on which the ACB court had sent him to judicial custody.
It was not a mere case of corruption like taking kickbacks for awarding contracts, said Reddy, adding that it was much more as Naidu had authored and implemented the ingenious scam.
The YSRCP leader also claimed that the hallmark of Naidu’s 40 years of public life was rank corruption.
He said that TDP workers had been creating a ruckus claiming that the police had acted heavy-handedly, but in fact, it was the cops who acted with extreme restraint while dealing with Naidu and his son Lokesh.
Reddy said that Lokesh used very filthy language against the policemen on Saturday. It was Lokesh — and not the police — who used objectionable language at the time of the arrest of Naidu, he added.
He said it had become a practice for TDP workers to attack the police, as had happened in Angallu and Punganur in the Chittoor district.
If the police registered cases against them, they were prone to raising hell saying that the government was acting in a dictatorial manner, added Reddy.
He refused to call remanding Naidu to judicial custody a victory for the YSRCP government, as it never looked at that way.
The CID police, in their investigation, found evidence against him, arrested him, and produced him in court, which in turn heard arguments and sent him to remand, noted Reddy. “Where is the question of victory?” he asked.
“The court verdict has shown that ultimately the truth will triumph. If one commits a crime, the law will reach him, regardless of one’s stature and station. It is imperative that everyone should respect the law of the land,” he said.
Reddy also said that Naidu, after his arrest on Saturday, had been campaigning that a crime had been committed against him.
Instead of hanging their heads in shame for their involvement in the scam, they were acting in a way that threatened law and order, he claimed.
This 14 day remand for @ncbn is proof that the CID produced clinching evidence in the Skill Development Scam. So, TDP chief will have to face due procedure as per law. This is routine for anyone who is accused of a crime related to corruption. Had @ncbn, his son @naralokesh and… pic.twitter.com/VoMuTuDvAU
— YSR Congress Party (@YSRCParty) September 10, 2023
Meanwhile, Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan condemned the arrest of Chandrababu Naidu and declared his support to the beleaguered leader. “It is necessary that we should support someone who always stood for us,” he said.
He recalled how Naidu expressed solidarity with him when there was trouble in Visakhapatnam.
Speaking to reporters at his party office in Mangalagiri, he slammed the YSRC government for its vindictive politics.
It is necessary that everyone in AP should shed cowardice and fight against Jagan Mohan Reddy, who had turned into a psychopath, he added.
He said it was “necessary for us to stay put in AP and fight the injustice being meted out to us”. The actor-turned-politician added: “This is our land. Where can we go from here?”
He disapproved of the way the police tried to stop him while he was on his way to Mangalagiri from Hyderabad.
“They stopped me in the middle of the road. Where can I go? Which courts would be available to me to do justice at that hour? That is why I lay on the road, and when the police said it would create a security risk, I told them to let my fans fall on me and choke me to death. That is better than yielding to your coercive actions,” he said.
The Jana Sena chief said he came to know that Jagan Mohan Reddy had gone to London to invest the stash that he had looted in AP.
“I was told he was investing in a golf course there. when I get to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, I will ask him to look into it as the country has more influence in the world now, in the wake of hosting the G20 Summit,” he said.
జగన్ కోర్ట్ పర్మిషన్ తీసుకునట్టు.. నేను ఎందుకు పర్మిషన్ తీసుకోవాలి?#HelloAP_ByeByeYCP pic.twitter.com/IzVIdZyLbH
— JanaSena Party (@JanaSenaParty) September 10, 2023
