TDP to block Ashok Chavan's entry into Andhra Pradesh tomorrow

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is gearing up to block Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan's entry into Andhra Pradesh when he is scheduled to visit Puttaparthi in Anantapur district tomorrow.

Chavan, an ardent devotee of Satya Sai Baba, is scheduled to arrive by a special flight tomorrow morning in Puttaparthi and proceed by road to Prasanthi Nilayam, the abode of Baba.

With Maharashtra government arresting its chief N Chandrababu Naidu and 74 other leaders when they sought to visit the Babhli irrigation project site, the TDP is bent on preventing Chavan from going ahead with his plans.

The TDP rank and file is literally seething over Chavan on the manner in which a leader of Chandrababu Naidu's stature has been treated by the Maharashtra government and the police "excesses" on the party legislators arrested there.

The TDP is mobilising its cadre to stop Chavan at the Puttaparthi airport itself and not let him step into the district.

Senior TDP leaders here have informed Chandrababu Naidu about Chavan's scheduled visit to Andhra Pradesh. 

"We are discussing the issue and we shall chalk out our plan of action by tomorrow," senior TDP MLA from Anantapur district Payyavula Keshav said.

"We will certainly prevent his entry into the state," he asserted.