Naidu slams govt for non-stop false cases on TDP leaders

Mangalagiri: TDP national president and former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday condemned and described the arrest of their party State secretary Gurajala Sandeep Mahadev as unlawful and atrocious.

Naidu said that Sandeep was picked up and being taken around without revealing his whereabouts to his family members. Just for posting a comment on social media, the TDP leader was being subjected to harassment.

In a statement here, the TDP chief recalled how the police did not initiate any action till now though YSRCP goondas armed with deadly weapons attacked the TDP central office which was located between the DGP office and the special police battalion in Mangalagiri. But, politically motivated cases were being filed against TDP social media activists on the false charges of derogatory social media posts. Naidu said that the Supreme Court had objected to arresting anybody just for posting some comments on social media criticising the government.

The apex court had also warned the police in this regard. The division bench of Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice Indira Banerjee clarified that every citizen of India had a right to freedom of expression under Article 19(1)(A) of the Constitution. Naidu termed it as anarchic to take the arrested TDP leader to different unknown locations without giving any information about his safety. The Chief Minister should realise that there would be serious repercussions if the harassment of Sandeep Mahadev was not stopped forthwith.

The TDP chief asserted that their party would pay back with full interest to every attack and false arrest being resorted to by the Jagan Mohan Reddy regime. Nobody can escape punishment if they cross the 'Lakshmana rekha' drawn by the Constitution. Sandeep Mahadev should be immediately released to uphold the rule of law and to safeguard the democratic values.