Police foil JSP protest, arrest leaders

Visakhapatnam: Closure of a route at Tycoon hotel junction and making it a one-way has become controversial in Visakhapatnam city.

Pointing this out, Jana Sena Party (JSP) leaders demanded opening of the road as it was before.

Following a construction project undertaken by Visakhapatnam MP MVV Satyanarayana, the Opposition party leaders alleged that the route has been closed at Tycoon hotel junction and converted into one-way. They pointed out that owing to vastu reasons, the MP made the route shut.

Opposing the move, the JSP leaders called for a demonstration a few days back. But the police played spoilsport on their protests. On Monday, the JSP leaders, led by the party’s PAC chairman Nadendla Manohar, called for a protest to open the road and keep it as before.

The police detained some of the key JSP leaders in their residences, arrested the party supporters and activists and shifted them to police stations. Nadendla Manohar, Panchakarla Ramesh, P Usha Kiran and Kona Tatarao were arrested by the police as they squatted on the road in protest. Earlier, they were detained at the hotel.

Meanwhile, JSP activists reached Tycoon junction to join the protest. Speaking on the occasion, Manohar said, “The police have been repeatedly blocking the demonstrations taken out by the JSP. Earlier, Pawan Kalyan was stopped from taking out a protest in Visakhapatnam. It is inappropriate to silence the Opposition’s voice in a democratic country.” Women protesters expressed anger that the police were silencing their voices even as they intended to take out a peaceful demonstration. Even as some of them became unconscious while protesting, the police shifted them to the police stations.

JSP corporator P Murthy Yadav was taken into custody when he was proceeding to GVMC council meeting. When he argued with the police that he had to attend the council meeting, the police allowed him to attend. Meanwhile, JSP chief Pawan Kalyan condemned the arrest of JSP leaders and demanded immediate release of them. He issued a statement in this regard and mentioned that he would visit Visakhapatnam to lead the protest if the arrested leaders were not released with immediate effect.