Samaikyandhra protesters on Tuesday blocked the convoy of Union Minister for Textiles Kavuru Sambasiva Rao at Bhairavapatnam village in Mandavalli mandal of Krishna district and demanded his resignation from the Cabinet in support of the United Andhra movement.
The protestors stopped his convoy before he arrived at the venue to unveil the statue of former Krishna district ZP Chairman Pinnamaneni Koteswara Rao who passed away last year.
Special police teams and rope parties cleared the path for the convoy and provided security to the Minister as situation was turning tense with sloganeering by the protestors. However, Mr. Sambasiva Rao unveiled the statue of Koteswara Rao amid tight security. The Union Minister, accompanied by State Secondary Education Minister K. Parthasarathi and AP Telugu Official Language Commission Chairman M. Buddha Prasad, offered floral tributes at the photo of Koteswara Rao at his residence at Rudrapaka village in Nandivada mandal.
“We still hope that the Congress Working Committee will consider our demand for unified Andhra by rethinking on its earlier decision for carving out Telangana,” Mr. Sambasiva Rao told The Hindu. On Samaikyandhra JAC members’ demand for his resignation, he said, “I still need some time to take the final decision in the issue.”
Marking the first death anniversary of Koteswara Rao, he also unveiled a statue at Rudrapaka village where no leader spoke on the ongoing protests. Nevertheless, referring to the attack on State Irrigation Minister T.G. Venkatesh, Secondary Education Minister K. Parthasarathi on Tuesday told newsmen that the recent attacks on Congress leaders by the protesters were deliberate and instigated by the selected political parties.
