PM visit to Tirumala: Left parties leaders held under house arrest

Tirupati: On the eve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day official visit to Tirumala, several left party leaders were held under house arrest here on Sunday.

The leaders, who were under house arrest, include district secretaries of CPM and CPI V Nagaraju and P Murali respectively, while CPM city secretary T Subrahmanyam, leaders S Jayachandra, M Madhav and M Narendra were under arrest at CPM office. Many CPM leaders were under house arrest in Venkatagiri and Puttur in the district. CPM district secretary Nagaraju condemned the house arrest of his party leaders and criticised the government for acting in un democratic manner.

CPI leaders, who were held under house arrest in the city on Sunday, include party city secretary J Viswanath, leaders Chinnam Penchalaiah, K Kumar Reddy, Radhakrishna, ND Ravi, Ramakrishna and many others.

CPI district secretary Murali in a strongly worded statement said that PM Narendra Modi, who betrayed the people of Andhra Pradesh by going back on his promise with regard to special category status to the State, has no moral right to come to Tirumala. He criticised Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for genuflecting before Modi, which was evident with the arrest of Left leaders. He said the people of the State are now fully aware of the PM and CM letting down the State and will surely teach a lesson in the 224 election to the two parties BJP and YSRCP.