The ruling YSRCP in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday alleged that former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu violated norms of the COVID-19 lockdown and demanded that he should be quarantined as per guidelines.
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president, who was in Hyderabad since the lockdown began in March, reached his residence in Amaravati by road on Monday to a warm welcome by the party leaders and workers.
Earlier at Vijayawada, the leader of the opposition stopped his convoy to wave at a large number of party activists and followers who jostled to greet him. Physical distancing was not maintained and many of the people who greeted him were not wearing masks.
"Since he came from a red zone area and crossed over from another state, he should be quarantined," said YSRCP leader G Srikanth Reddy.
The YSRCP leader from Kadapa sought action against Naidu for deliberately violating COVID-19 lockdown rules and also Epidemic Diseases Act and Communicable Diseases, Prevention and Control Act, 1988. He even shot off a letter to Director General of Police (DGP) Gautam Sawang on the issue.
The leaders of the ruling party and the main opposition have been indulging in political slugfest over Naidu's stay in Hyderabad. YSRCP leaders had taunted him for maintaining 'physical distancing' by staying 300 km away from the state.
YSRCP leader Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy said nobody had stopped the TDP chief from returning to the state but he preferred to remain in Hyderabad and when he finally returned, he violated all lockdown norms.
There was also a row before Naidu's return to Amaravati. It was on May 24 that the DGP had permitted him to return to the state.
The TDP had even announced that Naidu would leave for Visakhapatnam on May 25 to console the families of the 12 people who died due to gas leak from LG Polymers on May 7. The party announced that he will leave for Vizag by a flight from Hyderabad at 10 am.
However, he could not go to Visakhapatnam as the flight was cancelled following the decision by Andhra Pradesh government to allow resumption of domestic flight services from May 26.
TDP leader K Atchan Naidu alleged that the flight resumption was deliberately postponed by the Jagan Mohan government to stop the TDP chief from visiting Visakhapatnam. "The government did this under a conspiracy to prevent him from going to Vizag," he said and claimed that Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri's tweet that the resumption of flights from Vizag and Vijayawada was postponed at the request of the state government was a proof of the conspiracy.
TDP's senior leader and former minister Devineni Uma claimed that Chandrababu Naidu honoured all lockdown norms to seek permission to visit Visakhapatnam to call on the people affected by gas leak. "Why is the government afraid of his visit?" he asked.
The former minister said Naidu would soon visit Visakhapatnam to meet gas victims. "Whenever he goes to Vizag, it is bound to create tremors for YSRCP leaders," he added.
IANS inputs