Andhra: Nara Bhuvaneswari joins TDP workers' hunger strike against Naidu's arrest

Oct 02, 2023

East Godavari (Andhra Pradesh) [India], October 2 : Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu's wife Nara Bhuvaneshwari joined party workers on a hunger strike at Rajamahendravaram in East Godavari district against Naidu's arrest.
Nara Bhuvaneshwari paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti before starting her day-long hunger strike. A large number of women from across Andhra Pradesh have also joined the strike extending their support for Nara Bhuvaneswari.
TDP is staging a hunger strike across the state against the arrest of the former CM.
TDP national general secretary and Naidu's son Nara Lokesh have joined the protest in Delhi. 
The hunger strike in Delhi comes one day ahead of the Supreme Court hearing which is scheduled on Tuesday in which the SC will hear a plea of TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu challenging the Andhra Pradesh High Court order in dismissing a petition for quashing the FIR against him in the Andhra Pradesh skill development scam which was filed by Crime Investigation Department (CID) of Andhra Pradesh based on the complaint filed by the ruling YSR Congress MLA A Ramakrishna Reddy.
Chandrababu Naidu approached the Supreme Court against the High Court order which declined to quash the FIR last week.
He sought the quashing of the FIR registered by AP-CID in the alleged Rs 371 crore skill development scam on the ground that the police did not obtain prior sanction from the Governor as mandated under the Prevention
of Corruption (PC) Act.
In his plea, Naidu contended that the Andhra Pradesh High Court had rejected his petition by ignoring his pleading that under Section 17A of the PC Act, which came into force on July 26, 2018, no FIR against a public servant could be registered without prior sanction of the appropriate authority.
The FIR against Naidu was registered on December 9, 2021, and he was added as accused number 37 in the case. on September 7, 2023. Section 17 A of the PC Act was not complied with as "no permission was obtained from
the competent authority", the plea stated.
Naidu, presently the Leader of the Opposition, the national president of the Telugu Desam Party called the action against him "an orchestrated campaign of regime revenge and to derail the largest opposition in the state.
Naidu was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on September 9 in connection with the multi-crore skill development scam case.