MAHARASTRA: A local court in Maharashtra has issued an arrest warrant against Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu in 2010 Babli project agitation. The Dharmabad first class judicial magistrate court directed the police to produce Naidu and the other leaders before the bench on September 21.
The TDP sources indicated that Naidu was keen to attend before the court not only to declare his respect for the judiciary but also for political considerations.
Besides Naidu, state Water Resources Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao and Social Welfare Minister N Anand Babu, former MLA G Kamalakar (who subsequently joined the TRS) were among the Telugu Desam Party workers booked in the case.
The incident took place when the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) had organised massive protests over what it termed the “illegal constructions” of the Babli Barrage project by the Maharashtra government allegedly to divert Godavari River waters from Telangana region of the then undivided Andhra Pradesh. Naidu was the leader of opposition in the united Andhra Pradesh then and the case has been pending trial all these years.
AP minister N Anandababu, who is also one of the recipients of the notices, said that the arrested TDP leaders refused to apply for bail. They were charged under Sections 353, 324, 332, 336, 337, 323, 504, 506, 109 and 34 of the IPC.
