YSR Congress Party chief Jagan Mohan Reddy burst out at the police who prevented him from leaving the airport in Visakhapatnam. He, along with his partymen Vijaya Sai Reddy, Subba Reddy and Ambati Rambabu, were not allowed by the police to leave the airport for the proposed protest march at RK Beach demanding Special Category Status.
The opposition YSR Congress had announced that Jagan would participate in the candle light march at RK beach today demanding SCS. Cops beefed up security in and around RK beach and also at the airport in view of Republic Day and the protest coinciding.
Despite all the campaign on social media with both Pawan Kalyan of Janasena and Jagan throwing their weight behind the proposed sit-in at RK beach, the event failed to materialise as much due to widespread police presence as due to lack of ground-level support to the cause.
Jagan, who lost his cool when cops stalled him from moving out of airport, threatened the cops that they were dealing with the future Chief Minister of the State. He asked them not to touch the future Chief Minister. “How are you behaving? I will not forget anyone of you, and will teach you appropriate lesson when I come to power,” he shouted at them.
“Chandrababu Naidu is not paying your salaries. I am telling these cops now, Chandrababu will not be in power for all time. We will inquire into these people and take action at the right time against these misbehaving police guys,” he warned later at a press conference.
Vijaya Sai Reddy asked the cops as to why they were preventing the passengers to cross the arrival gate. “Did Ashok Gajapati Raju, or Chandrababu ask you not to allow us,” he questioned, expressing anger at the airport officials for allowing cops into the airport.
There was pushing and shoving around, even as the cops politely but firmly refused let them out of the airport. Jagan and his team demanded that they be allowed to enter the arrival lounge, but in vain.
Jagan was furious that plainclothesmen should prevent opposition leader in the state and a Parliament Member in broad day light. They staged a sit-in protesting against the ‘undemocratic’ action of the government. Later, the police sent them back to Hyderabad by the return flight.
Sakshi, Jagan’s newspaper, claimed that DGP Sambasiva Rao was personally present at the airport supervising the blockade of the YSR CP leaders.
Meanwhile, the police ensured that even a minuscule number of people who tried to gather at RK beach were dispersed. There was some noise at Andhra University campus, but subsided after a while.
On the whole, the proposed protest at RK beach in support of Special Category Status ended as a damp squib, despite all the hype created both by Pawan and Jagan, as well as some media outlets, most prominent of them being TV9 channel.
