The judicial remand of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N Chandrababu Naidu and a host of his partymen, including MPs and MLAs, was extended by a Maharashtra magistrate on Monday.
The TDP chief and his party functionaries were arrested on Friday last by the Maharashtra police when they attempted to enter the disputed site of the Babli irrigation project being built by the Maharashtra government on the river Godavari.
According to reports reaching here, the magistrate extended the judicial remand of Naidu and others when they refused to seek bail.
The TDP is protesting against the construction of the Babli barrage as it affects the flow of Godavari waters into the Andhra Pradesh state. The state government has also filed a case against the Maharashtra government in the Supreme Court seeking directions to stop the construction of the barrage.
The TDP observed a state-wide bandh today in protest against the arrest and detention of the party leaders. The shutdown, which evoked partial response, passed off peacefully.
Police said the agitators damaged window panes of 10 state-owned road transport corporation buses at various places.
A total of 2,391 persons across the state, including TDP leaders Kodela Sivaprasad Rao, Teegala Krishna Reddy and Harikrishna, were taken into preventive custody.
