The Telugu Desam Party chief and former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu and 65 of his supporters were sent to two days of magisterial custody on Sunday after they chose to be jailed rather than accepting bail. Mr Naidu was arrested in Dharmabad, Nanded on Friday after he attempted to visit the Babhali barrage irrigation project, violating propitiatory orders issued by the state government.
The Maharashtra police had prepared to release him on bail on the condition that he would return to Andhra Pradesh. However, Mr Naidu refused to avail of bail and demanded that he be allowed to visit the barrage. A case under Sections 135, 143 and 188 of the IPC has been registered against the arrested AP legislators. This makes them liable for a jail term too.
A local district magistrate of Dharmabad visited the Industrial Training Institute (ITI) campus — where the arrested legislators were lodged — on Saturday afternoon and sent them to judicial custody after they refused to avail of bail. Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan dismissed Mr Naidu’s agitation as a politically-motivated move aimed at influencing Assembly by-elections to be held in AP. Maharashtra home minister R.R. Patil was also upset with Mr Naidu’s defiance. He said, “We have been allowed to release Mr Naidu on a personal bond. We are ready to release him even on the verbal assurance that he will return to his state. Otherwise, he and his supporters will be kept in different jails.”