Unidentified persons ransacked the office room of Union Minister of State for Heavy Industries A. Sai Prathap near the Kadapa railway station in the early hours of Saturday.
The incident coincided with Mr. Prathap’s arrival here to canvass for the Congress party in the by-election to Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency. The miscreants gained entry into the office room located in the old house of the Minister, by breaking open a wooden-frame ventilator, ransacked it and damaged furniture.
They also broke the locked main door and threw out the portraits of former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi and that of Kandukuri Veeresalingam Panthulu and destroyed them. They damaged an air-cooler, two ceiling fans and threw them out of the room.
Mr. Prathap said he had no enemies and it was "a deliberate and foolish act of some vested interests" and not a theft attempt. He lamented the damage to portraits of eminent leaders and furniture and sought stringent action. Police teams collected finger prints and foot prints of the accused from the ransacked room.
Andhra Pradesh Minister for Housing Kanna Lakshminarayana, Minister for Minority Welfare, Mohd. Ahmedullah, and others visited the office and condemned the incident. They demanded stern action against the culprits.
