Tension grips Kuppam ahead of Naidu’s visit

June 17, 2014 01:21 am | Updated November 17, 2021 04:32 am IST - CHITTOOR:

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on his arrival at Ramakuppam in Kuppam constituency of Chittoor district on Monday.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on his arrival at Ramakuppam in Kuppam constituency of Chittoor district on Monday.

Tension prevailed at Ramakuppam village of Kuppam Assembly constituency following heated arguments and heavy jostling between the police personnel on security duty and the Telugu Desam Party cadres, a few minutes before the arrival of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Monday.

The Chief Minister’s scheduled visit to Kuppam was delayed by over three hours, during which gap unruly circumstances gripped the helipad and public meeting venues at Ramakuppam, with the TDP cadres storming them in large numbers. Adding to the woes of the police, the streets of Ramakuppam and surroundings turned into a sea of humanity, eagerly waiting to have a glimpse of Mr. Naidu, who returned to their constituency as the Chief Minister after a hiatus of a decade. A large crowd of party workers led by the TDP district leader Gownivari Srinivasulu and Mr. Naidu’s personal assistant Manohar tried to barge into the helipad zone, but were prevented by the police on duty. For several minutes heated arguments ensued between the two sides, with both sides resorting to ugly scenes, including jostling and swearing against each other. At one stage, the police lost their cool and pushed Manohar.

As soon as Mr. Naidu arrived at the public meeting venue, he could understand the mood of the cadres, who poured out their anguish and complained against the area circle inspector. The chief minister immediately called the police personnel under question and instructed the district police authorities to initiate action against them, besides expressing dissatisfaction against the handling of things by the DIG Balakrishna. Earlier, Naidu clarified that the police should be extremely careful in handling things in Kuppam constituency. “In fact, there is no need for police personnel in the constituency,” he said.

SUVs collide near helipad

A couple of hours before Mr. Naidu’s arrival, the young MLAs (first timers) of the party in the district - Talari Aditya (Satyavedu-SC) and G. Shankar Yadav (Tamballapalle) - along with their supporters, zoomed past at the helipad zone in their respective SUVs. Both vehicles collided with each other, leading to minor injuries to drivers of both vehicles, and MLA Aditya’s vehicle was badly damaged. The police rushed to the spot and cleared the vehicles and shifted the injured to area hospital.

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