Telugu Desam chief N. Chandrababu Naidu and his son Nara Lokesh were placed under house arrest and several party leaders, including MLAs, were taken into custody on Wednesday in an bid to stop them from organising an agitation in Guntur district against the alleged eviction of some villagers.

Simultaneously, some leaders of the ruling YSR Congress were also detained in Guntur as they too gave a call for a similar programme to counter to Telugu Desam.

The TDP announced that Naidu would be observing a day-long fast inside his riverfront residence at Undavalli in Amaravati in protest against the police action.

Naidu wanted to lead a group from the Palnadu region of Guntur district to a village called Atmakuru. 'I have planned to go to Atmakuru to drop the villagers who were driven out by YSRC men and police back in their village. This is not an agitation but solidarity with the people who are victims of political factionism,' Naidu, the leader of Opposition in the Assembly, said.

Alleging that the TDP was only seeking to create a scene using 'paid artistes', the YSRC too gave a call for Chalo Atmakuru but the police denied permission to both sides and clamped prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC.

A large police force has been deployed in Atmakuru and also in the Palnadu region to prevent violence.