Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Chandrababu Naidu had to cancel his scheduled visit to Vizag after the state government postponed the opening of flight services in the state from Monday to Tuesday.
The Leader of Opposition had been staying at his Jubilee Hills residence in Hyderabad during the lockdown period, and had obtained permission from the Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP) on Sunday to travel to Vizag and then to his Undavalli residence in Amaravati. Naidu, along with his son, MLC and TDP General Secretary Nara Lokesh, had planned to travel from Hyderabad to Visakhapatnam by flight. With flight services postponed, he has now decided to directly travel to Undavalli by road, according to reports.
Naidu had planned to visit the victims of the LG Polymers gas leak in RR Venkatapuram village near Vizag and offer his condolences. He had also planned to tour the villages affected by the gas leak and meet with Vizag TDP leaders, before leaving for his Undavalli residence in the Amaravati capital region by road.
However, on Sunday night it was announced that Andhra Pradesh would only commence flight services only on Tuesday. Union Minister for Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted on Sunday night that domestic flights would commence across the country from Monday, except in Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. He wrote that operations will recommence in Andhra from May 26, as per the state government’s request.
With this, a few TDP leaders have alleged that the YSRCP-led state government obstructed Naidu’s Vizag visit on purpose. TDP MLA Kinjarapu Atchannaidu said that it was soon after the state police granted permission for Naidu’s Vizag visit that the state government postponed flight service operations. He alleged that the YSRCP government has repeatedly tried to foil Naidu’s Vizag visits.
Earlier in February, when Naidu tried to visit Vizag as part of a scheduled visit to the north Andhra region, his convoy was blocked for hours near the airport by YSRCP workers. This was Naidu’s first visit to the city after the YSRCP government announced that Vizag would be made the executive capital of the state.
The police finally took Naidu into preventive detention at the airport, before sending him back from Vizag. The Andhra Pradesh High Court had even pulled up DGP Gautam Sawang on the issue.