Bangalore: Seventeen Telugu Desam activists, including two Lok Sabha members and two MLAs, have been arrested as the Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh row over Chitravathi project in the border district of Kolar took a new turn.

The activists, who were charged with violating section 144 of CRPC act and disrupting law and order, were produced before a magistrate early on June 7 at Bagepalli in Kolar district adjoining Andhra Pradesh.

They were remanded to judicial custody till June 9 and have since been sent to the central prison.

The 17, who were taken into custody when they insisted on proceeding to the dam site in violation of prohibitory orders, included MPs Parthasarathy and K Srinivasalu and MLA Perital Ravi and Sainath Goud, police sources said.

Tension had mounted in the Karnataka's border town of Bagepalli on June 6 after Telugu Desam activists held a rally on the Andhra Pradesh side of the divide at Kodikonda demanding that construction of the dam across Chitravathi river by Karnataka be stopped.

Telugu Desam has alleged that Karnataka is constructing the barrage across the Chitravathi river for irrigation purposes in violation of laws, a charge a vehemently denied by Karnataka, which has repeatedly said it's only meant for drinking water requirements and would go ahead with it.

Karnataka has amassed massive police force in the border district in a bid to prevent protesters from Andhra Pradesh from forcing their way into the state demanding scrapping of the project.

PTI