Ayyanna Patrudu "illegally" arrested for exposing Jagan govt's scams, says TDP

Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh) [India], November 3 (ANI): Terming the arrest of its senior leader Ayyanna Patrudu as "illegal" Telugu Desam Party on Thursday condemned it and alleged that the Andhra Pradesh government made the move because he was "exposing" the scams and questioning the government for "destroying" the Uttarandhra region.
Patrudu and his son Rajesh were arrested from their residence in the early hours of Thursday for allegedly forging documents in the High Court regarding the construction of a wall in their house. Both of them were arrested by the Crime Investigation Department (CID) Police earlier today and moved to the Eluru district.
Speaking to ANI, the national spokesperson of the TDP, Pattabhi Ram, said that Ayyanna was arrested as he cornered the Jagan Mohan Reddy's government for "huge corruption".
"TDP strongly condemns the arrest of Ayyanna Patrudu. The police entered his house by breaking open his doors. This illegal arrest was made just because Ayyanna Patrudu for the past few months have been strongly questioning and cornering the Jagan Reddy's government for the huge corruption that they have done in the past three and a half years, particularly in the Uttarandhra region," he said.
Detailing the account of alleged corruption in the state government, the TDP leader said that Dharmana Prasada Rao who is the Revenue Minister should be arrested for being named in the SIT for forging documents.
"We have seen how Jagan Reddy had looted Rs 40,000 crores alone in the Uttarandhra region during this period. We have seen how senior leaders in his cabinet like Dharmana Prasada Rao have grabbed lands belonging to ex-servicemen. We have seen how Vijayasai Reddy had acquired huge amounts of land in and around Visakhapatnam. We have seen how Jagan Reddy made Uttarandhra the capital of ganja. Just because Ayyanna is exposing all the scams and is questioning the government for destroying Uttarandhra, Jagan Reddy today, with the help of the CID which had become a kind of Chamcha (sycophant), he forged a false case," he said.
"If somebody had to be arrested for forgery and tampering documents, the first person to be arrested should be Dharmana Prasada Rao, the current Revenue Minister. I challenge the CID, can you arrest Dharmana? It is proved in the SIT report that was constituted by the previous TDP government that Dharmana Prasada Rao forged and tampered with documents and had grabbed hundreds of acres of land belonging to ex-servicemen," Pattabhiram added.
He further alleged that the Reddy government is targeting the backward class leaders one after the other.
"One after the other, BC leaders from TDP are being targeted. This is the attitude they are showing towards the backward class community of Andhra. Chandrababu Naidu has already given a call to stage agitations across the state. A bandh call has been given in Narsipatnam," he said.
Meanwhile, TDS chief N Chandrababu Naidu condemned the arrests of party leader Ayyanna Patrudu and his son Rajesh and demanded their release unconditionally.
"Patrudu is being subjected to various kinds of harassment. The arrest is to stifle the voice of backward classes," he stated.
It is reported that the CID had registered a case on the complaint of the irrigation officials that Ayyanna Patrudu and his son Rajesh had submitted a fake certificate to the High Court during the demolition of the house wall. It was alleged that the duo had occupied the Ravanapalli irrigation canal and constructed the house.
Ayyanna's wife Padmavati criticized the government for arresting Ayyanna Patrudu and Rajesh without prior information.
She demanded from the government to take full responsibility for Ayyanna Patrudu's life.
The Telugu Desam Party activists have called Narsipatnam bandh in protest against Ayyanna's arrest. (ANI)