Soon after coming to know about the abrupt transfer of senior IAS officer A C Punetha from the post of chief secretary, Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu reacted wildly and shouted at the Narendra Modi at the top of his voice.
Surprisingly, Naidu expressed apprehension that he might be arrested in a day or two.
"The Centre might also arrest me tomorrow or day after. Let them do. I will go to jail but I will not yield to such intimidation," Naidu said at the Visakhapatnam election rally.
He said not once but repeatedly about the possibility of his arrest in a couple of days.
One wonders whether Naidu really got any such hint from his sources in the Centre about his arrest or he was saying to whip up passions among the public and gain sympathy.
It appears the TDP chief is eager get arrested for some reason or the other, as he thinks it would fetch him a martyr’s image for fighting against Modi-led NDA government in the interest of the state.
Even otherwise, Naidu wants to get the political mileage by highlighting the witch-hunting of his party leaders by the Centre.
Already, Naidu sat on a dharna in Vijayawada against income tax and police raids on the residences of close aides C M Ramesh and Putta Sudhakar Yadav in Kadapa district, Bida Ravi Chandra in Nellore, Galla Jayadev in Guntur etc.
Naidu alleged that Modi was misusing central agencies to target the TDP leaders including the party candidates.
In any case, Naidu might have to face the arrest, if not now but at a later stage, since YSR Congress party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, if comes to power, will not rest till he sends Naidu behind the bars!