Visakhapatnam: airport
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Politics
2017-22
Umamaheswara Rao, Oct 17, 2022: The Times of India
From: Umamaheswara Rao, Oct 17, 2022: The Times of India
VISAKHAPATNAM: Visakhapatnam airport has been in the news for all the wrong reasons with regard to political developments of Andhra Pradesh for the last several years. The airport, which is located some 10 kilometres away from the core city, witnessed several key moments in the last five years, which might have partly shaped or reshaped the political arena of the state.
When he was in the Opposition, chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy staged a protest on the tarmac itself when the city police prevented him from coming out of the airport in January 2017. The then Opposition leader arrived at Vizag airport to take part in a candlelight rally that was planned on the beach road with a demand for special category status to AP. Even though Jagan and his entourage could finally make it to the airport lounge after a 30-minute heated drama on the runway, he was sent back to Hyderabad from the airport.
Nearly 20 months after the tarmac protest, Jagan was attacked with a knife, which is normally used during rooster fights, at Vizag airport in October 2018. This had led to a huge political furore with the YSRCP pointing fingers to the TDP for the attack.
The then Opposition leader was in the midst of a nearly 3,600-km walkathon, Praja Sankalpa Yatra, stretching from Idupulapaya to Ichchapuram. He reached Visakhapatnam airport to catch a Hyderabad-bound flight from Vizianagaram, where the padayatra was going on then. The accused, who was employed by a food joint at the airport and served tea to the chief minister, suddenly whipped out the blade and stabbed Reddy in the shoulder. The Opposition leader, who suffered a deep laceration for which he required several stitches, could resume his padayatra only after a three-week break.
Former CM N Chandrababu Naidu encountered a similar experience of Jagan Mohan Reddy. Naidu was detained at Vizag airport by the city police in February 2020, thwarting his attempt to go on his ‘Praja Chaitanya Yatra’. After a nearly five-hour long drama and protest outside the airport, Naidu was sent back to Hyderabad as a ‘preventive’ measure. High drama unfolded during this visit as the YSRCP leaders and followers blocked Naidu’s convoy from moving out of the airport. Now it seems to be the turn of Janasena. A mob, believed to be the followers of Janasena party, hurled chappals and stones at the convoy of state ministers at Vizag airport on Saturday, October 15, landing several key leaders of Janasena in police cases.
The mishap occurred when the ministers, who arrived at the airport to return to Vijayawada after participating in ‘Visakha Garjana’, bumped into Janasena followers, who were waiting for the arrival of their president Pawan Kalyan. The alleged stone pelting at Vizag airport and the subsequent arrests has distributed the entire schedule of Pawan Kalyan, who was supposed to conduct Jana Vaani (people’s voice) programme.
While state ministers and YSRCP leaders squarely blamed Janasena followers and leaders for the ‘undemocratic’ attack, Janasena chief Pawan Kalyan commented that they are viewing the alleged airport attack the same as the Kodi Kathi (rooster knife attack) drama earlier played by the YSRCP.
