It's political vendetta, says Pawan Kalyan on Naidu's arrest

Amaravati, Sep 9 (IANS) Jana Sena Party (JSP) leader and actor Pawan Kalyan has condemned the arrest of former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.

The actor politician termed the arrest as a political vendetta by the Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government.

He said the Jana Sena Party would stand by him.

Pawan Kalyan said the manner in which the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president and former chief minister was arrested show that the trend of arresting the opposition leaders without showing prima facie evidence was continuing in the state.

He said the way Naidu was arrested and the recent incidents in Chittoor show that the YSR Congress Party government is trying to create law and order problems.

Pawan Kalyan found fault with the action taken to foil protests by TDP over Naidu's arrest. He said that it is common in a democracy that a party stages a protest over the arrest of its leader.

"YSRCP leaders indulge in any illegal activities and go to jails. Later they can even go abroad but when a leader is arrested who has committed no mistake, leaders of other parties should not come out of their homes. What kind of restrictions are these," he asked.

The JSP leader took strong exception to the statements by the leaders of YSRCP that their party, police and government are ready if the law and order problems were created.

"Maintaining law and order is the responsibility of the police. In what way YSRCP leaders are concerned with this," he asked.