ELURU: Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy's access to the public was `controlled' by the presence of heavy police security during his visit in West Godavari district.

Strikingly, he undertook his whistle-stop tour in Ungutur and Eluru Assembly constituencies in a bullet-proof car right from the moment he arrived at Pulla on Thursday evening till he left Eluru on Friday. The presence of 1000-strong gun-toting police force, which included the Chief Minister's personal security, greyhounds party, district guards and district police, kept the commoners at bay from the VVIP all through.

Car breaks-down

A proposal enabling the Chief Minister to go in an open-top jeep from the helipad to the venue of Indiramma Prajapatham programme at Pulla was reportedly rejected by his personal security personnel, forcing him to go in a car. The official top brass were seen in jitters when the Chief Minister's bullet-proof car broke down on his way to helipad from the Government hospital at the last leg of his visit. He was, however, accommodated in another bullet-proof car which was kept standby in the convoy.

Mild tension

A overenthusiastic functionary of the CPI (M) affiliated Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) was beaten up and physically dragged away by the police when he strayed into the Chief Minister's convoy at Government Hospital in the city in a bid to draw the attention of Dr. Reddy to his organisation's demand for filling up 65,000-odd teacher posts. The overzealous police held up traffic on the Kolkatta-Chennai National Highway-5 in the Eluru-Tadepalligudem section near Gundukolanu and in the city as part of security arrangements, causing hardships to the general public.

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