Desaraju Surya
Hyderabad: How and why did Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal “escape” from the Government General Hospital late on Sunday night?
There was a lot of drama involved in the entire escapade, sources close to the MP as well as those in the police department say.
It all began around 5 pm on Sunday when the Krishna district Joint Collector B Ramaiah and Vijayawada Deputy Commissioner of Police Vijay Kumar went to the Government General Hospital, where Rajagopal was shifted from his indefinite hunger-strike camp, and informed him of the decision to shift him to the NRI Hospital at Mangalagiri for “better treatment.”
The MP, however, was insistent that he be taken to NIMS in Hyderabad, which the State Human Rights Commission too had ordered.
But the officials reportedly told the MP that state Home Minister P Sabita Reddy and Director General of Police R R Girish Kumar negatived the move since it could lead to a law and order problem in the state capital.
The JC and the DCP reportedly told Rajagopal about this but the latter remained adamant and refused to be moved to NRI Hospital. Alternatively, Rajagopal suggested that he be taken back to the hunger-strike camp at Swaraj Maidan where he would undergo medical treatment in the 108 ambulance.
Rajagopal also reportedly warned the officers that they would be dragged to court for “treating an MP in such a shoddy fashion.” “I will make you face music for the rest of your life,” he reportedly warned in a very angry tone.
The two officials then communicated the MP’s stand to district Collector Peeyush Kumar and Commissioner of Police K V Rajendranath Reddy.
Even as they were waiting for further instructions, Rajagopal was engaged in a secret meeting with his close aides P Gowtham Reddy and Nagalla Sivaram Prasad and reportedly planned to give a slip from the GGH.
Around 10.30 pm, Rajagopal quietly walked out of his room in the Central Diagnostics Ward in the GGH, even as the JC and the DCP remained mute spectators, got into a waiting Qualis and sped away in a jiffy in the company of Gowtham Reddy. A few meters outside the hospital premises, he changed into another SUV and sped towards Eluru on the busy National Highway-5. En route, the SUV carrying the MP and Gowtham Reddy rammed into two barricades but did not stop for a moment.
Rajagopal boarded a Hyderabad-bound train at Eluru and reached the state capital in the early hours of Monday.
He came to NIMS in an autorickshaw around 1.15 pm and before anyone could identify him ran straight into the acute medical care ward and lay down on a bed.
The MP launched his indefinite fast in Vijayawada on December 12 protesting the proposed bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. Before he was removed to the GGH in the wee hours of Saturday, the MP reportedly asked the Krishna district minister K Parthasarathy and Collector Peeyush Kumar not to shift him to hospital and enable him to continue the fast. “Let me sit on fast for at least two days more than K Chandrasekhar Rao. I will then take treatment and subsequently call off the fast and go to New Delhi to meet Sonia Gandhi,” Rajagopal reportedly told them.
However, Inspector General of Police Umesh Sharraf, who has been posted on special duty in Vijayawada, turned down the MP’s proposal and got him shifted to hospital in a bid to break the fast, a top official in Vijayawada said on condition of anonymity.
Hyderabad: How and why did Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal “escape” from the Government General Hospital late on Sunday night?
There was a lot of drama involved in the entire escapade, sources close to the MP as well as those in the police department say.
It all began around 5 pm on Sunday when the Krishna district Joint Collector B Ramaiah and Vijayawada Deputy Commissioner of Police Vijay Kumar went to the Government General Hospital, where Rajagopal was shifted from his indefinite hunger-strike camp, and informed him of the decision to shift him to the NRI Hospital at Mangalagiri for “better treatment.”
The MP, however, was insistent that he be taken to NIMS in Hyderabad, which the State Human Rights Commission too had ordered.
But the officials reportedly told the MP that state Home Minister P Sabita Reddy and Director General of Police R R Girish Kumar negatived the move since it could lead to a law and order problem in the state capital.
The JC and the DCP reportedly told Rajagopal about this but the latter remained adamant and refused to be moved to NRI Hospital. Alternatively, Rajagopal suggested that he be taken back to the hunger-strike camp at Swaraj Maidan where he would undergo medical treatment in the 108 ambulance.
Rajagopal also reportedly warned the officers that they would be dragged to court for “treating an MP in such a shoddy fashion.” “I will make you face music for the rest of your life,” he reportedly warned in a very angry tone.
The two officials then communicated the MP’s stand to district Collector Peeyush Kumar and Commissioner of Police K V Rajendranath Reddy.
Even as they were waiting for further instructions, Rajagopal was engaged in a secret meeting with his close aides P Gowtham Reddy and Nagalla Sivaram Prasad and reportedly planned to give a slip from the GGH.
Around 10.30 pm, Rajagopal quietly walked out of his room in the Central Diagnostics Ward in the GGH, even as the JC and the DCP remained mute spectators, got into a waiting Qualis and sped away in a jiffy in the company of Gowtham Reddy. A few meters outside the hospital premises, he changed into another SUV and sped towards Eluru on the busy National Highway-5. En route, the SUV carrying the MP and Gowtham Reddy rammed into two barricades but did not stop for a moment.
Rajagopal boarded a Hyderabad-bound train at Eluru and reached the state capital in the early hours of Monday.
He came to NIMS in an autorickshaw around 1.15 pm and before anyone could identify him ran straight into the acute medical care ward and lay down on a bed.
The MP launched his indefinite fast in Vijayawada on December 12 protesting the proposed bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. Before he was removed to the GGH in the wee hours of Saturday, the MP reportedly asked the Krishna district minister K Parthasarathy and Collector Peeyush Kumar not to shift him to hospital and enable him to continue the fast. “Let me sit on fast for at least two days more than K Chandrasekhar Rao. I will then take treatment and subsequently call off the fast and go to New Delhi to meet Sonia Gandhi,” Rajagopal reportedly told them.
However, Inspector General of Police Umesh Sharraf, who has been posted on special duty in Vijayawada, turned down the MP’s proposal and got him shifted to hospital in a bid to break the fast, a top official in Vijayawada said on condition of anonymity.
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