Prakasam police took into custody 50 activists of opposition parties in a pre-dawn swoop fearing trouble during Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu's Janmabhoomi Maa Vooru programme at Rayavaram village, near Markapur in Prakasam district.
The arrested included CPI District Secretary K.Aruna and CPI(M) Markapur Division Secretary D.Somayya as also Anganwadi workers and Helpers and agitating Village Revenue Assistants.
Activists of the Communist Party of India and CPI(Marxist) staged a demonstration in-front of the busy APSRTC bus station in Ongole in protest against ‘suppression of all democratic forms of protests by using the police force.’
The Left parties wanted to represent to the Chief Minister the need for earmarking Rs. 1,500 crore for completion of the Veligonda project. But permission was denied to meet the Chief Minister, said CPI(M) district Secretary P.Anjaneyulu.
The district which remained backward had not been provided any special package and the big ticket projects like Ramayapatnam seaport, Donakonda industrial city, National Investment and Manufacturing Zone(NIMZ) remained a non-starter, Ms Aruna lamented. She also wanted to draw Mr Naidu's attention to the absence of even a state university in Prakasam district and plead for locating the IIIT named after former President A.P.J.Abdul Kalam at Markapur. But permission was denied to meet the Chief Minister, she lamented.