The visit of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national president N. Chandrababu Naidu to the Annamayya and Chittoor districts as a part of his ‘Yuddha Bheri’ programme (a tour of unfinished irrigation projects) turned violent on August 4 (Friday) evening.
As per the itinerary, Mr. Naidu, after visiting Angallu village of Kurabalakota mandal in Annamayya district, would proceed to Puthalapattu in Chittoor district via the Punganur bypass road.
However, trouble broke out when some unidentified persons blocked the bypass road by placing a lorry, allegedly with an intention to disrupt Mr. Naidu’s convoy, at Beemaganipalle village on the outskirts of Punganur town.
When the TDP activists, who came to the bypass road junction from Punganur town and other nearby villages to welcome Mr. Naidu, objected to the presence of a lorry on the road, an argument ensued between them and the YSRCP cadres present there.
Soon, the YSRCP and TDP cadres clashed with each other, forcing the police, who were present in large number, to resort to lathi-charge and use teargas shells.
Despite the huge presence of the police, the two groups clashed, and several TDP cadres were seen running away from the spot with bleeding injuries as the unruly mobs resorted to pelting stones.
As per unconfirmed reports, the police personnel too allegedly resorted to pelting stones at the TDP cadres.
Frenzied activity was witnessed in a radius of three-km with both the police personnel and the agitators running helter-skelter.
A few police personnel were also injured. Three of them who received critical injuries were admitted to the government hospital at Punganur. A Sub-Inspector from the Gangadhara Nellore Assembly constituency was among the dozen police personnel who were injured.
For about an hour, high tension prevailed at the bypass road junction. In the melee, unidentified persons set fire to two police vehicles.
Additional forces were deployed from Chittoor, Palamaner, Madanapalle, and Punganur. After striving for an hour, the police brought the situation under control.
Earlier, tension gripped Angallu village when a group of YSRCP cadres allegedly pulled down the banners put up by the TDP activists to welcome Mr. Naidu.
A heated argument between the YSRCP and TDP cadres resulted in stone-pelting. About a dozen activists from both the sides received injuries in the incident.
Meanwhile, Superintendent of Police Y. Rishant Reddy and senior police officers from Chittoor rushed to the Punganur hospital to call on the police personnel injured in the clashes.
Police pickets were arranged at all vulnerable places along the route map of Mr. Naidu to prevent any untoward incidents.
