Chandrababu Naidu slams arrest of kirana traders in Vizag

Amaravati: TDP national president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday condemned the manner in which the police were targeting the Arya Vysya kirana shop owners at Ramalayam temple in Yetigairampeta village in Golugonda mandal in Visakhapatnam district.

Naidu termed it as unfortunate that even the temple priest's name was included in the FIR that was registered out of clear political vendetta. The two shop owners, Polisetti Kanaka Rajju and Polisetti Santosh, were taken into custody, detained at the police station and were being persecuted in the name of the cases.

In a statement here, the TDP chief deplored that even the elderly shop owners aged around 69 years, who had been rendering their services in front of the temple for many years, were not being spared. Alarmingly, the accused persons were being branded as the TDP sympathisers in order to target them. What's more, some local forces were indulging in a vicious political campaign against the targeted traders.

The TDP chief condemned the Jagan government's failure to arrest the real culprits responsible for the ongoing attacks on temples, priests and idols all over the state. Over 140 attacks took place on temples but the police failed to take action. Now, the police arrested innocent persons by attributing political motives to them.

He said photo evidence was available that a local YSRCP leader was involved with the culprits in an offence there adding that there were suspicions whether the YSRCP leaders were behind the filing of false cases against the innocent traders.