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Section 144 imposed in Andhra town as YSRCP, TDP workers clash: Cops
Clashes took place between the ruling YSR Congress Party workers and Telugu Desam Party cadres over the obstruction of a programme organised by the latter, on Friday night in Macherla town of Andhra Pradesh’s Palnadu district, said police on Saturday.
Clashes took place between the ruling YSR Congress Party workers and Telugu Desam Party cadres over the obstruction of a programme organised by the latter, on Friday night in Macherla town of Andhra Pradesh’s Palnadu district, said police on Saturday.
Following the clashes, the Palnadu police imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) in the town on Saturday.
“Trouble began when the YSRCP workers led by Macherla municipal chairman Turaka Kishore allegedly obstructed a party programme held near the municipal office by the TDP workers led by constituency in-charge Julakanti Brahma Reddy,” said a police official privy to the matter.
This led to clashes between the two groups, said the police official.
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The TDP leaders alleged that the YSRCP cadres attacked their workers with stones, sticks and iron rods, and smashed their vehicles, said the police.
The ruling party workers also set fire to the TDP office, residence of Brahma Reddy and several vehicles of the opposition party leaders’ vehicles, said the police.The ruling party also claimed that some of its workers were injured in the clash.
“The police remained mute witnesses to the violent attacks by the ruling party cadre,” alleged Brahma Reddy.However, a police official said that “they had acted on time and dispersed the warring groups”.
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Palnadu superintendent of police Y Ravi Sankar Reddy said: “The violent clashes were no way connected to politics...they were result of faction feuds which had been taking place in the district for several years”. “These faction leaders give it a political colour by joining one party or the other,” he said.
The SP said after getting the information that some faction leaders were moving in the area, the police had conducted a cordon and search operation on Friday morning, but could not find any weapons. “In the evening, a few people under the guise of the TDP workers, took part in the party programme, provoking the other faction. This led to clashes between the two groups,” he said.
The SP said additional forces have been deployed in the town and Section 144 has been imposed. “The situation is under control. All the perpetrators will be booked. An investigation is on in the matter,” he added.
Meanwhile, TDP president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu condemned the incident. “These kinds of violent attacks on the opposition party cadres never happened in Macherla. This is height of anarchy,” he said and alleged that the “police remained mute spectators when the YSRCP goondas were indulging in vandalism and arson”.
However, senior YSRCP leader and lawmaker Kasu Mahesh Reddy blamed the clash on Naidu. “Naidu visited Palnadu recently and instigated his party workers to take to the streets. Brahma Reddy has a factional background and he has been facing allegations of instigating murders,” Reddy alleged.
