Senior BJP leaders M Venkaiah Naidu and Prakash Javadekar were among the party activists,who were taken into preventive custody when they tried to proceed towards Raj Bhavan on Sunday,police said. Mild tension prevailed at the Khairtabad circle when police prevented Naidu,Javadekar and state party president Bandaru Dattatreya,who led a 'Chalo Raj Bhavan' programme protesting rise in prices of essential commodities,they said. When the leaders tried to proceed further towards Raj Bhavan pushing the police barricades,police took them into preventive custody,they added. Besides Dattatreya,party floor leader in the state Assembly G Kishan Reddy and GHMC president C Ramachandra Reddy,Dr Laxman and Ramachander Rao were among the nearly 500 persons arrested by Punjagutta and Saifabad police. Earlier,addressing a gathering at Khairtabad Circle,Naidu and Javadekar said that if the UPA government fails to control spiralling prices within a month,the party would organise a 'Chalo Delhi' programme in March. Accusing the central government of adopting wrong policies,Javadekar claimed that despite the Centre exporting 48 lakh tonne sugar at the rate of Rs 12 per kg,sugar was being sold at the rate of Rs 40-45 per kg in our country.
