Chandrababu Naidu ‘violated the model code of conduct’: Police on his airport detention

Former Andhra Pradesh chief minister and TDP national president Chandrababu Naidu, who was detained at Tirupati airport in Renigunta on Monday when he was going to Chittoor,  was denied permission to attend election campaigning in the Chittoor district into the city for agitation as he violated the “model code of conduct”. Chittoor Superintendent of Police Senthil Kumar said that the permission was denied for former Andhra CM’s agitation as the entire town would have jammed, resulting in public suffering, reports news agency ANI.

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The Chittoor SP said that the protest organisers, who were planning to gather 5,000 party supporters which is a violation of COVID-19 safety guidelines, were asked to look for locations on the outskirts of the city but they refused, reports ANI.

Kumar said, “With the upcoming urban local elections, protest of this nature would be a violation of the model code of conduct.”

The TDP leader was scheduled to attend two dharna programmes, one in Tirupati and the other in Chittoor, in the party’s protest against YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led ruling party’s “high-handed attitude” against the opposition leaders, reports The Hindu. 

The agitation in Tirupati was to show resentment against the YSR Congress party government, who had allegedly pulled down a tea stall, which belonged to a TDP worker and was situated in front of a leading movie theatre, using its official machinery and had called it an “encroachment,” The Hindu report said.

The former CM sat down at the airport, refusing to move as he insisted on meeting the Collector and the Superintendent of Police if allowed out of the airport. The Tirupati SP, Venkata Appala Naidu, later went to the airport and personally appealed to the TDP leader to leave the spot.

The former CM, who sat down in protest at the airport after getting detained, finally left by a 7.15 pm flight after appeals by officials and protests by party workers across the state, reports a media outlet.