Andhra Pradesh: Rally organised in Chittoor opposing Chandrababu Naidu’s arrest

"Arresting Chandrababu, the provider of development, is inhuman", one of the rally organisers said while speaking to ANI.

Chittoor: A rally was organised in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district opposing the arrest of the former state Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Chief N Chandrababu Naidu. Chandrababu Naidu was arrested in connection with an alleged multi-crore skill development scam case. “Arresting Chandrababu, the provider of development, is inhuman”, one of the rally organisers said while speaking to ANI.

Meanwhile, students and teachers also joined the rally protesting against the arrest of the TDP chief. The Supreme Court on Wednesday posted for hearing on October 3 a plea of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu seeking to quash the FIR registered against him in the skill development scam case.

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Naidu approached the Supreme Court against the High Court order which declined to quash the FIR last week.

He sought the quashing of the FIR registered by AP-CID in the alleged Rs 371 crore skill development scam on the ground that the police did not obtain prior sanction from the Governor as mandated under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.

In his plea, Naidu contended that the Andhra Pradesh High Court had rejected his petition by ignoring his pleading that under Section 17A of the PC Act, which came into force on July 26, 2018, no FIR against a public servant could be registered without prior sanction of the appropriate authority.

The FIR against Naidu was registered on December 9, 2021, and he was added as accused number 37 in the case. on September 7, 2023. Section 17 A of the PC Act was not complied with as “no permission was obtained from the competent authority”, the plea stated.

Naidu, presently the Leader of the Opposition, the national president of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), called the action against him “an orchestrated campaign of regime revenge and to derail the largest opposition in the state, the Telugu Desam Party”.

“The extent of the political vendetta is further demonstrated by the belated application for grant of police custody on September 11, 2023, which names the political opponent i.e. the TDP and also the petitioner’s family, which is being targeted to crush all opposition to the party in power in the State with elections coming near in 2024,” it added.

The arrest of the TDP Chief has led to a political hustle in the state with several TDP leaders alleging that the former was arrested unjustly on the basis of ‘false corruption charges’.

Earlier, Chandrababu Naidu’s wife Bhuvaneshwari participated in special prayers at St. Paul’s Lutheran church at Jampet, Rajahmundry for the release of the TDP Chief.

People also gathered inside the Church with banners in their hands, condemning the arrest of Chandrababu Naidu.