YSRCP MPs detained for marching towards Parliament

Five YSR Congress Party MPs along with some MLAs were today detained by Delhi Police when they tried to march towards the Parliament complex to protest against the Centre for not offering Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh.

Scores of party cadres squatted in front of the police van to thwart attempts of the police to detain their leaders.

The police said the detainees were kept for a while at the Parliament Street Police Station and allowed to go sometime later.

Speaking to PTI, before being taken by the police, the party Lok Sabha MP, Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy, said, "We all trusted Chandrababu Naidu, but the interest he showed in increasing the number of seats in the state Assembly, did not reflect in getting the special status for the state."
 

The Nellore MP urged the people of the Andhra Pradesh to give a chance to his party in both assembly and general elections due next year and said, "Give us 20 MP seats, just like how Naidu was given 17 seats in 2014. We will see how the Centre will not give us the status. Naidu has cheated all of us."

Party supporters from the state and some NRIs had gathered to take part in a public meeting on Parliament Street held this morning. After the meeting ended, the leaders tried to take out a protest march to the Parliament complex.

MP Vijay Sai Reddy, who was also detained, said, "We took all permissions but despite that we are being detained. Even in 2015, our party chief Jagan Mohan Reddy held a similar protest at the same venue for the same cause. Such attempts to detain us will not deter us. We will continue this."

"Every voter of the state wants Special Category Status, the upcoming polls can be considered as referendum to choose between people who will fight for it and those who were pretending to fight," he said.

Last month, the party Lok Sabha MPs vowed to resign on April 6 if their demand for Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh was not fulfilled by the Centre.