Andhra Pradesh: TDP leaders hold candle march against Chandrababu’s arrest in Visakhapatnam

Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) [India]: Telugu Desam Party leaders on Saturday held a candle march here in the district party office to protest against the arrest of their leader and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu in an alleged multi-crore scam.

The TDP leaders raised slogans against the state government and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Former MLA and TDP Parliamentary in-charge Palla Srinivasa Rao, Palla Srinivasa Rao, state party Polit Bureau member Anitha Vangalapudi, and senior party leaders were among those present during the demonstration.

Earlier, Andhra Pradesh Crime Investigation Department chief N Sanjay on Sunday said that Chandrababu Naidu was the prime conspirator in the AP Skill development scam adding that the TDP leader in his capacity had orchestrated the whole idea of corruption during his tenure as Chief Minister.

The agency officials also claimed that the alleged fraud has caused a huge loss to the state government in excess of Rs 300 crore.

On Friday, TDP MLAs held a protest for the second consecutive day against the “illegal” arrest of the TDP chief with members of the party expressing their concerns over a “conspiracy” to kill the TDP chief.

Visuals from outside the Assembly showed TDP MLAs and workers protesting and raising slogans of ‘We Want Justice’.

Former YSRCP MLA Undavalli Sridevi also joined the protest and said that the procedure to arrest Chandrababu Naidu was not correct and that he is being suppressed mentally as well as physically in prison.

“…The procedure of arrest was not correct and we are going to protest against it…Chandrababu Naidu has been illegally arrested and kept in Rajahmundry Central jail. We came to know that a person (in the same jail) died of dengue fever which is a severe disease as it causes internal bleeding and the patient can go into comma….” said Undavalli Sridevi.

Speaking to media, Sridevi said they were concerned about the health of Naidu even though prison authorities have stated there was no mosquito breeding in the jail.

“We are asking for the immediate release of Chandrababu Naidu as we are worried about his health,” she said.