TIRUPATI: Bharatiya Janata party activists — who staged protests led by state president Somu Veerraju against the installation of a Tipu Sultan statue at Proddatur in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh — were arrested by the local police on Tuesday.
After Proddatur Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress (YSRC) party legislator Rachamallu Sivaprasad Reddy laid the foundation stone for the installation of a Tipu Sultan statue at Jinnah Road recently, the state BJP unit vehemently opposed the move as an unconstitutional one
"The local legislator had unilaterally decided to install the statue without obtaining an approval from the district statues committee in the first place," it was alleged.
Tension prevailed across Proddatur town following the protest call given by the state BJP unit.
While a large posse of policemen were put on guard both at Jinnah Road and the municipal office premises, a large number of BJP activists led by Veerraju staged a sit-in protest in front of the municipal office at Proddatur and raised slogans against the local legislator and the YSRC state government.
Veerraju accused YSRCP MLA Rachamallu Sivaprasad Reddy og resorting to appeasement politics to cover up the state government's failures on several fronts.
A minor scuffle broke out between the local police and the BJP activists when they tried to reach Jinnah Road.
Later, the Proddatur Police, led by DSP Y Prasad Rao, took several BJP activists including Somu Veerraju into custody.
