Congress members released black balloons and held four to protest PM Modi’s visit

By Our Special Correspondent

At least two Congress workers were arrested for releasing black balloons near the Vijayawada International Airport on Monday morning when Prime Minister Narendra Modi's chopper was traveling in Andhra Pradesh's Krishna district.

The Prime Minister arrived at Vijayawada Airport in Gannavaram from Hyderabad and from there along with Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy and Governor Biswabhushan Harichandan reached Bhimavaram in two choppers and unveiled the statue of freedom fighter Alluri Sitharamaraju.

In the morning, the workers of Congress and Madiga Reservation Porota Samiti gathered near the airport to protest against the Center for not giving special status to the state, but the police immediately detained them and took them away from there.

Two Congress workers - one of them identified as local leader Rajeev Ratan - released four sets of black balloons from the top of the under-construction building as the two helicopters approached. However, although the balloons were released from a distance, by the time the choppers took off, the balloons had reached a considerable height and were seen next to the choppers.

While there is tight security in and around the airport for the Prime Minister, the building where the balloons left is far away. The two helicopters were taking off and coming up just in time to release the balloons.

AP DGP KV Rajendranath Reddy told the media that two persons have been detained while searching for the third person.

In the morning, as we wanted to release the balloons, we pre-detained Mahila Congress chief Sunkarna Padmasree and several Congress workers from near the airport. The activists of Madiga Reservation Porota Samiti also wanted to protest, so they were also detained. The representatives of both the parties said that they should protest against the Center for not giving special status to Andhra Pradesh,'' said the DGP.

The Krishna District Police issued a statement that there was no breach in the Prime Minister's security at the airport. As a precautionary measure, the Krishna district police have imposed Section 30 of the Police Act and Section 144 of the CrPC, the police said.