The visit of Kavuri Sambhasiva Rao, Union Minister for Textiles, to his native Eluru Lok Sabha constituency turned violent following a showdown between the YSRC activists and his party workers on the Samaikhyandhra issue at Chintalapudi in West Godavari district on Tuesday.
Eggs and stones were reportedly hurled at the Minister’s convoy by a group of people belonging to YSRC when the Minister was participating in functions in connection with the inauguration of a mini-RTC bus stand and community hall at the mandal headquarters town, labelling Mr. Rao as ‘betrayer’ of the Samaikhyandhra movement . This resulted in a clash between the YSRC group and those belonging to the ruling Congress.
The police threw a security cordon around the Minister and chased away the YSRC protesters.
Local Circle Inspector M. Venkateswara Rao said 20 protesters, including the YSRC former MLA Maddala Rajesh and former chairman of the Chintalapudi Agriculture Market Yard Buddhani Venkateswara Rao were taken into custody in connection with the violent incidents.
Talking to The Hindu , Mr. Maddala Rajesh accused the Minister of provoking the agitators with his ‘vitriolic’ speech. “We actually wanted to meet him (Minister) to enlist his support for defeating the Telangana Bill in the Parliament.
But he proved himself to be a betrayer of the cause of Samaikhyandhra by instigating the police against the agitators,” Mr. Rajesh said.
Mr. Sambhasiva Rao, who addressed a media conference after the violent protests, denied the charge that he had abused the agitators and said the incident was politically motivated by the YSRC in a bid to gain mileage. The Minister expressed the hope that the Bill would be stalled at some point of time.
