Andhra Pradesh Home Minister Mekathoti Sucharitha lashed out at former Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu over the protests in Amaravati, and said that he was responsible for the "chaotic situation in Krishna and Guntur districts."
"Naidu is turning out to be an anti-social element after losing power. He is just trying to save the lands of his benamis in the capital region by creating a law and order problem in the region," she added.
Since last month, farmers in Amaravati who had given their land for development of the state's capital, are up in arms, after the YSRCP government has proposed to decentralise the capital, with a legislative one at Amaravati, an executive one in Visakhapatnam, and a judicial capital at Kurnool.
Pointing out that several expert panels constituted by the state government had made it clear that there would be unrest in the state if there was no decentralisation of development, Sucharitha said, "Now the present government is trying to rectify the damage done to the state by Naidu by proposing decentralisation of governance and development."
Naidu, who is also president of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), was taken into custody by the police along with several other leaders in Vijayawada on Wednesday, when they tried to take out a 'bus rally' in solidarity with the farmers' agitation demanding that Amaravati be continued as Andhra Pradesh's capital.
"But still, Naidu wants to create unrest in the region just for political gain and to save the lands of his henchmen...Creating problems in Vijayawada by Naidu only goes to prove that he is trying to foster goonda raj in the region with his behaviour," she added.
The Home Minister also said that the police had been maintaining calm despite 'provocative' acts by Naidu.
"People are exasperated with the behaviour of Naidu, who is acting like a restless goon. The so-called 40 years of political experience and his term as a two-time Chief Minister have gone awry with his anti-social behaviour," Sucharitha added.
Naidu's son Lokesh, TDP senior leader K Atchannaidu and other leaders were among those detained on Wednesday night, police said. Tension continued in the area as police sought to use force to disperse the protesting TDP workers, until normalcy was restored late in the night.
PTI inputs