By IANS,
Hyderabad : Congress MP from Vijayawada L. Rajagopal was arrested Monday at the airport here soon after he landed to launch an indefinite fast to oppose the proposed bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, police said. His arrest sparked protests in the Andhra region.
Tension prevailed at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad on the city outskirts as Rajagopal’s supporters tried to resist the arrest. Some supporters of the MP were also taken into custody.
The MP was taken to the Pahadi Shareef police station, where his supporters staged a sit-in to protest the arrest.
The industrialist, whose Lanco Group of companies has huge business interests in Hyderabad, is against the central government’s decision to give separate statehood to Telangana region, which comprises 10 districts including Hyderabad.
He had earlier announced his plans to go on a fast at the state assembly while the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), student bodies and Congress leaders from Telangana region had threatened to stop him from doing so.
“I don’t know why I was stopped by police. I was going to meet the chief minister and legislators,” Rajagopal told reporters at the police station.
Police said there was no permission for the fast. It had mobilised a large number of security personnel, including from the paramilitary Central Reserve Police (CRPF), to arrest him and his supporters.
As tension was mounting in the city following TRS’ allegations that Rajagopal was bringing hired goons from Vijayawada to create trouble in Hyderabad, police Sunday night raided several hotels and lodges in the city and arrested several supporters of the MP.
Police have also intensified checking of all vehicles coming from Vijayawada to Hyderabad. On Sunday night, at least a dozen Congress leaders supporting Rajagopal were stopped and sent back to Vijayawada.
Police in Vijayawada and other towns in the Andhra region were on high alert as Congress activists and others supporting a united Andhra Pradesh took to the streets protesting Rajagopal’s arrest.
Protesters blocked roads at several places and forced shops and business establishments to down shutters.
Andhra and Rayalseema regions of the state are witnessing protests for the last four days against the government’s decision to initiate the process for granting separate statehood to Telangana.
Ruling Congress party legislators from the two regions also met Chief Minister K. Rosaiah to lodge their protest against Rajagopal’s arrest.