On the fourth day of 2,340 km walkathon christened, Vastunna Mee Kosam, TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu blamed the Congress government in the killing of former party Minister Paritala Ravindra.
Speaking at Kogira village, which falls under the TDP bastion of Penukonda Assembly constituency - which slain TDP leader Paritala Ravi represented until his death while his family wields almost unquestioned loyalty amongst many in the constituency, Mr. Naidu accused the then Congress government under Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy of actively being involved in planning and executing the assassination on the life of Paritala Ravi.
Meanwhile, Paritala Sunita, wife of the slain leader, and Rapthadu MLA, who accompanied Mr. Naidu for the last few days, was missing next to him, although the villages that Mr. Naidu toured are vote banks for the Paritala family and therefore the TDP.
But, party leaders told The Hindu that she is busy looking after arrangements for tomorrow’s padayatra which would go pass through Rapthadu constituency.
Paritala Sunita, who represented the Penukonda constituency in the by-election that ensued after the killing of Paritala Ravi, however, had to relocate to represent the Rapthadu Assembly constituency in the 2009 general elections as many villages of the erstwhile Penukonda constituency fell in Rapthadu constituency after delimitation.
Mr. Naidu is set to cover around 20 km starting at LGB Crossroads, where he halted yesterday night, after passing through the major panchayats of Kogira and Ragimekalapalli and Rachur before he enters Karnataka and walks for around almost 7 km before he re-enters Andhra Pradesh near Yerrabenchi village. He is to rest at Nandamuri Nagar of Garimekalapalli major panchayat of the Rapthadu constituency.
Meanwhile, most party leaders from the district on Friday paid token visits to the padayatra, joining the walk for some time in the morning and joining back for another round in the evening.
The only senior leader to follow Mr. Naidu through out his yatra during the day was Penukonda MLA B.K. Parthasarathy.
