Many TDP leaders arrested in midnight swoop

Vijayawada,Dec 16: Police in large numbers swooped on the Telugu Desam's protest camp in the wee hours of Wednesday. Mylavaram MLA Devineni Umamaheswara Rao, Nuziveedu MLA Chinnam Ramakotaiah, TDP urban secretary Bonda Uma, former mayor P Anuradha, party leaders Dhanasekhar and Papaiah were on indefinite fast for the past four days at the camp demanding that the Centre roll back its decision on carving separate Telangana region out of Andhra Pradesh.The party workers who anticipated that the Police might arrest and shift the fasting leaders to the hospital congregated in large numbers at the TDP camp all through the night and tried to prevent the Police when they tried to intervene.

However, the  Policemen who outnumbered the party activists chased away the crowd before shifting Anuradha, Ramakotaiah,Dhanasekhar and Papaiah to the Government Hospital here. When the Police personnel tried to shift Bonda and Uma,the party activists resisted the move forcing the cops to let go the attempt. Now Bonda and Uma are continuing their indefinite fast.The Police claim that they had acted on the advice of the doctors who indicated that the condition of Ramkotaiah, Dhanasekhar and Papaiah was deterioting as their sugar levels were falling.Though Anuradha has no diabetic problem she has become weaker and has been shifted to the hospital,the Police claim.

Meanwhile,Uma came down heavily on the Police for trying to sabotage the peaceful protest. He said if the camp was disrupted, the agitation would be intensified.``I am at a loss to understand the rationale behind the Police move to shift the fasting leaders,''Uma wondered and added that arrests were being carried out at the behest of Home Minister Sabita Indra Reddy as she has ''biased regional feeling''.