Congress MP Rajagopal stopped from going on fast

HYDERABAD: Lanco Group founder and MP Lagadapati Rajagopal’s efforts to start an indefinite fast to oppose the creation of a separate Telangana state was aborted on Monday after he was arrested immediately on his arrival from New Delhi at the Shamshabad International airport.

A large posse of security personnel, including Central Reserve Police, were mobilised to arrest him and his supporters. The Congress MP from Vijayawada , who was released following protests by his supporters, was arrested again later in the day when he tried staging a protest.

The industrialist, whose Lanco Group of companies has huge business interests in Hyderabad, has been quite vocal against the Centre's move to grant statehood to Telangana, which comprises 10 districts, including Hyderabad. “I don’t know why I was stopped by police. I was just going to meet the chief minister and other legislators,” Mr Rajagopal told reporters at the police station. The police said permission has been denied to him to start an indefinite fast.

The MP later met chief minister K Rosaiah at his camp office, who is believed to have advised him against taking up the fast. Police have intensified the checking of all vehicles coming from Vijayawada to Hyderabad amid allegations by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi that some of Lagadapati's supporters were arriving in Hyderabad to begin a protest. On Sunday night, at least a dozen Congress leaders supporting Rajagopal were stopped and sent back to Vijayawada.