HYDERABAD: Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu was arrested when he was proceeding to Vidyut Soudha at Somajiguda here on Tuesday to stage a dharna there to protest against imposition of power cuts and proposal for power tariff hike. He was, however, released later.Tension prevailed near NTR Bhavan, Road No. 3 of Banjara Hills, Nagarjuna Circle and Vidyut Soudha as a large number of TDP activists and leaders protested against the "illegal" arrest of Naidu.Naidu, along with state TDP leaders and activists, decided to stage a dharna before Vidyut Soudha. When he set out on foot from NTR Bhavan to Vidyut Soudha via Banjara Hills Road No. 3, they were arrested by the police on the ground that they did not have permission to stage dharna. Police arrested Naidu for another reason too: to avert a possible clash between Telangana electricity employees and TDP workers. A large number Telangana employees protested against Naidu's dharna and demanded that he make his party's stand clear on Telangana. Employees, who shouted `Naidu, go back', at Vidyut Soudha were also arrested.When police tried to arrest Naidu he squatted on the road and protested. But the police prevailed and arrested Naidu and other senior leaders of the party and took them to the Banjara Hills police station. Huge traffic snarls were witnessed on all roads adjoining Banjara Hills.Speaking to reporters at the police station, Naidu said their agitation against power cuts and power tariff hike would continue till the government changed its mind.Before going on the padayatra, Naidu claimed that the power utility was at its best during his nine-year rule. He said not a single acre of agricultural land parched because of power cuts. "We had managed the power utility in a best way and saw that farmers got quality power." Naidu also recalled that TDP augmented the installed capacity of power utility, but the Congress government in the last seven years failed to match the needs of the farmers. "The Congress even failed to supply nine-hour power to farmers. It failed to keep its assurance," he alleged. Opposing the power tariff hike from April, the Opposition leader demanded that the government bear the burden instead of passing it onto consumers.Senior leaders N Harikrishna, T Devender Goud, T Srinivas Yadav, Y Babu Rajendra Prasad and others accompanied Naidu.
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