Tirupati: TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu stages sit-in at airport

Tirupati: High tension prevailed at Tirupati Airport since morning on Monday as police foiled the plans of TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu to protest against the ruling party's alleged atrocities in the civic polls.

As the police obstructed him from going out of the airport, he instantly started a sit-in protest on the floor at the lounge itself without taking food or drinks since morning much to the embarrassment of police sleuths. Later, they brought a chair for him which he refused to take.

The nine-hour long sit-on finally ended at about 7 pm after joint collector (development) V Veerabrahmam and Chittoor SP Senthil Kumar met him at the airport. Earlier, Tirupati urban SP Ch Venkata Appala Naidu and RDO V Kanaka Narasa Reddy tried to persuade him to go back to Hyderabad which yielded no results.

After the joint collector reached the airport, it was learnt that Naidu made all points clear to the joint collector on the atrocities being done by the ruling party leaders to frighten TDP candidates after which he agreed to take the flight at 7.15 pm to Hyderabad.

It may be recalled that Naidu decided to stage protests at Gandhi statues both in Chittoor and Tirupati on Monday. However, police officials have refused to give permission citing Covid norms and model code of conduct.

As police decided not to allow Naidu to go as per his plans to Chittoor and later to Tirupati, several TDP leaders were house arrested on Monday morning itself.

Unfazed by these developments Naidu reached Tirupati airport according to his original plans at 10 am where Renigunta police served him notices stating that he would be arrested if he did not stick to the police orders.

When police tried to persuade him to go back to Hyderabad an angry Naidu went into argument with them. "It is outrageous. Am I going to do a murder? I have served as Chief Minister for 14 years and now I am opposition leader.

Don't I have fundamental rights to meet Collector and SP? Elections are being held and political parties are taking out rallies. About 55-60000 people are visiting Tirumala daily. Still, why do you impose restrictions on me?", he asked them.

He was even not allowed to talk to the media. When police requested Naidu that they will let the collector and SP to come there and they have respect towards him, he replied, "They need not come here. I am not a great man. You have shown enough respect to me by deploying so many police personnel". The police even seized the mobile phone of Naidu and his associates.

He sat there itself till evening and reportedly refused to take lunch. Police made futile efforts to send him back to Hyderabad in two flights.

Meanwhile, party spokesperson K Pattabhi Ram reached Tirupati in the afternoon but was denied permission to meet Naidu. Due to the developments that grabbed all the attention, eight DSPs and 100 police personnel including airport's CISF personnel faced tense moments in persuading Naidu on one hand and controlling the party workers on the other.