Ponnam arrested amid high drama

KARIMNAGAR: On the first day of the rail roko called by the TJAC on Saturday,  tension prevailed in various places even as many T activists were taken into preventive custody since Friday night.Cases were registered uder the Railway Act against Karimnagar MP Ponnam Prabhakar and Ramagundam MLA Somarapu Satyanarayana Reddy.Ponnam was arrested at Alugunoor crossroads on the outskirts of Karimangar while he, along with former minister T Jeevan Reddy, was heading towards Jammikunta railway station.Soon his supporters entered into an argument with the police and tried to prevent them from shifting their leader to the LMD police station but could not. It may be recalled that it was at the same Alugunoor crossroads TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao was arrested, three years ago, while proceeding to Siddipet to launch his fast-unto-death for the cause of T.In a true filmy style, Ponnam Prabhakar escaped from the LMD police stationalong with his followers. After running for some distance, all of them got into a vehicle which was parked for them and headed towards Jammikunta railway station.Police officers chased the vehicle and took the MP into custody at Tummanapalli in Huzurabad mandal and was shifted to LMD police station again. Speaking to mediapersons, the MP said it was undemocratic to arrest him as he and his supporters were holding demonstrations in a peaceful manner. “The Centre should understand the ground situation in T and begin the process of carving out separate state,” he said. In Godavarikhani, Peddapalli MP G Vivek was also arrested while squatting on tracks at Ramagundam railway junction. Ramagundam MLA Somarapu Satyanarayana, Manakondur MLA Arepalli Mohan were also arrested. Koppula Eswar was house arrested at Peddapalli.At Elkathurthy, CPI district secretary M Venkataswamy and his followers were arrested under the Railway Act. In protest against the arrest, T activists laid siege to Elkathurthy police station.  TDP leaders remained significant by not participating in rail roko. Unidentified persons removed fishplates at Madipalli in Jammikunta mandal.