At least 5,000 personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force have been deployed for the search of missing Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajshekhar Reddy.
State government sources said the CRPF personnel would move along the same route that the chief minister took, notwithstanding the inclement weather. It is reported also that the eleven choppers, including four from the Indian Air Force, may call off their aerial search soon due to dwindling light.
The government has already set up 14 teams, each consisting of eight members (112 personnel), to search for missing Reddy and the seven-seater Bell chopper in which he was traveling to Chitoor District.
Local villagers have also been provided with torches and other equipment to help in the search of an area that is dominated by Naxalites.
The state government has also asked the central government to provide it with an unmanned aircraft and all-weather Fokker aircraft for the search operation in the Nanamalla and Seersailam forest ranges, where the chopper is believed to have made an emergency landing due to bad weather.
The state government said that bad weather, time constraints plus the dense forested area where the chopper may have landed is hampering rescue operations. It appealed to the general public to step in and help in the rescue operations along with the Indian Air Force and the Army.
In Delhi, Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily, who is in charge of the Congress party affairs in Andhra Pradesh, is having a meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi on the issue. He is said to have briefed Gandhi about the latest developments. Union Home Minister P Chidambaram is also meeting Sonia Gandhi.
The Congress party on Wednesday held an emergency press briefing here on the issue.
Party spokesman Manish Tewari told media persons that it is an evolving situation that is being closely monitored by the central and state governments, besides the Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
The party said that state government is handling a very sensitive situation as the copter is said to have landed somewhere in the forests between the three districts of Rayalseema, Prakasham and Chitoor.
The Chief Minister's Office confirmed receiving a message of the emergency landing of the chopper, but nothing thereafter.
Air Traffic Control sources said the chopper went off the radar due to heavy rains.
Image: Congress activists pray outside the official residence of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S R Reddy. Photograph: SnapsIndia
