Tension gripped the Telugu Desam Party meeting here as followers of party MLC Karanam Balaram Krishnamurthy and Addanki MLA Gottipati Ravikumar nearly came to blows on Tuesday.
Enraged over the twin murders in Vemavaram village in the faction-ridden Addanki Assembly constituency last week, followers of Mr. Balaram raised slogans against the supporters of Mr. Ravikumar and surged towards the MLA even as his gunman tried to keep them at bay.
A posse of police led by Ongole Dy SP G. Srinivasa Rao and TDP MP from Bapatla Sriram Malyadri intervened and escorted Mr. Ravikumar to a room where Ministers P. Narayana, Sidda Raghava Rao and Paritala Sunitha were eliciting the views of MLAs and Assembly constituency in-charge persons on elections to various party posts coinciding with the party Mini-Mahanadu.
The Ministers had a one-to-one meeting with Mr. Balaram and Mr. Ravikumar following which the situation returned to normal.
Terming the incident as “unfortunate”, TDP Prakasam district president D. Janardhana Rao said he would brief Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu of it. The party’s image had been tarnished because of lack of proper coordination between the leaders and the new entrants, he felt.
Echoing his views, Mr. Balaram said the party leadership had a responsibility to protect the interests of the workers, who had sacrificed a lot during the 10-year Congress rule.
