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Kalyan out of hotel confinement after 40hrs, vows to ‘weed out’ YSRCP from Andhra
Kalyan, who was confined by the Andhra Pradesh police to his room at Visakhapatnam’s Novotel hotel for over 40 hours, returned to his party headquarters in Mangalagiri of Guntur district on Monday evening by a chopper.
Telugu film star and Jana Sena Party (JSP) president, Pawan Kalyan, on Monday intensified his attack on the ruling Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) and promised to “weed out rulers with a criminal bent of mind”.
Kalyan, who was confined by the Andhra Pradesh police to his room at Visakhapatnam’s Novotel hotel for over 40 hours, returned to his party headquarters in Mangalagiri of Guntur district on Monday evening by a chopper.
The JSP leader was scheduled to address the ‘Jana Vani’ programme on Sunday to listen to grievances of the local residents. However, the Andhra Pradesh police barred Kalyan from addressing any meetings or taking out rallies in Visakhapatnam as per Section 30 of the Police Act till October 31, and confined him to his hotel room.
“It (the YSRCP) doesn’t want anybody to speak about Amaravati capital and the land grabbing by the YSRCP leaders in Visakhapatnam,” Kalyan told reporters in Mangalagiri.
Asserting that the people of the state would breathe easy if the YSRCP government was pulled down from power. “There is no other option to weed out rulers with a criminal bent of mind. It is our ultimate objective,” he added.
The JSP leader came to Visakhapatnam on Saturday evening to attend the event the next day. But his arrival led to a tense situation in the port city, when his party workers allegedly attacked the convoy of senior YSRCP leaders, including state ministers Jogi Ramesh and R K Roja. The leaders were returning to the airport after attending a Visakha Garjana (Roar of Vizag) rally at the port city in support of the three capitals for the state.
Soon after Kalyan reached the Novotel Hotel near Ramakrishna beach road, the police imposed restrictions on his movements.
On Sunday morning, Visakhapatnam (east) Assistant Commissioner of police Harshitha Chandana issued a notice to the actor, prohibiting him from addressing rallies and meetings as per Section 30 of the Police Act till October 31.
The police have barricaded all the entry points into the hotel to prevent the outsiders from entering the premises, except the hotel inmates and reporters with valid passes.
High drama prevailed outside the five-star hotel, where hundreds of party workers gathered and raised slogans in support of Kalyan even as the police have refused to allow either the actor to come out or the party leaders to get into the hotel.
His party posted a video of the actor waving at the crowds from the hotel room, as the police confined him to the hotel. “Hope, AP police won’t tell me not to greet from my room’s window,” Kalyan tweeted.
“Our beloved AP police under the eminent leadership of CM Sri Thanos barred me from holding Jana Sena programs, no rallies, no meetings. Left me with this option only... from my room window,” he said in another tweet.
“A thought just crossed my mind... am I allowed to go for an evening walk on RK beach to take some fresh air,” he added.
Meanwhile, late on Sunday, a local court in Visakhapatnam granted bail to 62 out of 71 Jana Sena Party workers, who were arrested in connection with the pelting of stones at the YSRCP ministers’ convoy at the airport the previous day.
In a complaint to the police, the YSRCP leaders have alleged that JSP workers heckled them and attacked them with stones, injuring an assistant of minister, Roja.
The police picked up more than 90 people in connection with the incident and booked cases against 71 of them on the charges of attempt to murder under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code. However, the charges were changed to mere assault later.
The court granted bail to 62 of them and sent the remaining nine to 14-day judicial custody. Those granted bail were released on Monday on a personal surety of ₹10,000 each.
JSP general secretary Shiv Shankar said he was also booked in the case, though he was nowhere in the picture. “I was at the airport lounge when the alleged attack on the YSRCP leaders took place. How can the police file a case against me?” he asked.
