By IANS,
Hyderabad: Nearly 15 hours after he vanished from a hospital in Vijayawada, Congress MP L. Rajagopal, on a fast against formation of Telangana, Monday surfaced at a hospital here amid high drama, heightening tension over separate statehood to the region.
After making a dramatic escape from a Vijaywada hospital, 300 km from here in coastal Andhra, the MP reached Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) around 2 p.m. in an autorickshaw through rear gate.
The MP from Vijayawada, whose indefinite fast opposing the proposed division of Andhra Pradesh entered the seventh day Monday, was caught on camera running into Acute Medical Care (AMC) ward of the NIMS.
He, however, got a hostile reception as pro-Telangana supporters raised slogans asking him to go back to Vijaywada.
As tension builds up due to protests against the MP at the NIMS and surrounding areas in Panjagutta in the heart of the city, the government is considering to send him back to Vijayawada.
Police closed the roads leading towards the NIMS for traffic as activists of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and other pro-Telangana groups gathered outside the hospital raising slogans of “Rajagopal go back”. They also pelted stones at nearby shops and shopping malls.
Armed policemen, including the paramilitary Rapid Action Force (RAF), were deployed at the hospital. Police arrested dozens of protesters, including women.
Students of the Osmania University also took out a procession towards the NIMS but were stopped by police.
Taking a serious view of the MP’s escape from a government-run hospital in Vijaywada, the state government Monday suspended Vijayawada police commissioner Rajendernath Reddy and five other police officers.
Chief Minister K. Rosaiah announced the suspensions of the officers.
Rajagopal Sunday night slipped out of the Vijaywada hospital though over 300 policemen were deployed around the hospital.
The chief minister said the connivance of some policemen was also suspected in the MP’s escape. He regretted that the MP left despite the government providing all medical facilities at the Vijayawada hospital.
The industrialist MP is believed to have reached Hyderabad by bus early Monday, and taken rest at a guest house.
The government had earlier rejected his demand to be shifted to Hyderabad, anticipating law and order problems.
It was at the NIMS that TRS chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao was admitted during his ‘fast unto death’ to press for formation of a Telangana state.
Rajagopal was arrested twice in Hyderabad for trying to launch indefinite fast here Dec 14 and was sent back to Vijayawada the next day.
Meanwhile, Telangana leaders cutting across party lines have condemned Rajagopal’s action in escaping from hospital in Andhra and reaching Hyderabad, which is one of the 10 districts of the proposed Telangana state.
“The fact that Rajagopal was caught on camera while running into the hospital proves that he has come to Hyderabad to provoke people of Telangana,” senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP V. Hanumantha Rao told reporters in Delhi.
Meanwhile, the protests and shutdowns in parts of coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions continued for the 11th day against the proposed formation of Telangana state.
Several leaders of the Congress and main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) continued their indefinite fast. They are also demanding that they be shifted to Hyderabad.