On Way To Amaravathi, Roja Arrested By Police

The Andhra Pradesh police on Saturday took MLA and YSR Congress Party leader R K Roja into preventive custody while she was proceeding to attend the National Women's Parliament being held at Amaravathi.

She was detained for an hour at the Gannavaram airport and later whisked away to an undisclosed place.

According to reports, as soon as Roja alighted at the Gannavaram airport to go to Amaravathi, police personnel surrounded her and told her that she needed to wait as Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama was to arrive there shortly. Then she was taken to a room where she was kept under police surveillance and not allowed to leave.

After about an hour, Roja was taken to Vijayawada with a woman police officer. The by then enraged YSRCP leader entered into a heated argument with police officials for "kidnapping" her though she was invited to attend the Women's Parliament with an invitation and an entry pass.

The stormy petrel said that the incident showed what kind of security women had in the Chandrababu Naidu government.

She alleged that the "timid" government was trying to prevent her from speaking the truth at the global conclave, and said that Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao had no moral right to organize the Women's Parliament as the TDP government was not sincere about women's empowerment.

"Why were leaders like Brinda Karat and Medha Patkar, who are working for women's causes, not invited to the event?" she demanded to know.

She also alleged that the National Women's Parliament had turned into a show only for the families of the members of some leaders, pointing out to how the daughter-in-law of Chandrababu Naidu and the daughters of Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had addressed the conclave.

Meanwhile, several YSRCP leaders, including women legislators, rushed to the airport and alleged that Roja was kidnapped. They said that Roja was taken in a car towards Perecharla from Gannavaram, and people had tracked the car till Medikonduru, after which they had lost her. Attempts to reach her over the phone had also proved futile as her phone could have been switched off by the cops, they alleged.

YSRCP official spokesperson Parthasarathi condemned the action of the TDP government in getting the MLA arrested as undemocratic. Other Opposition party leaders, too, alleged that Roja was kidnapped by the police, and demanded that she be released immediately and allowed to take part in the National Women's Parliament.

On the other hand, the ruling TDP alleged that Roja was coming to disrupt the event.

Meanwhile, eye-witnesses said Roja had made an attempt to get out of the car at Medikonduru. In the melee, the MLA had fallen down and was seen in tears, they claimed. The scuffle of the YSRCP MLA was recorded on the mobile phones of some of the eye-witnesses.