Twenty-one YSRCP sympathisers, including P. Papamma, were arrested on Wednesday in connection with Tuesday’s rioting at Rudramambapuram village of Chinnaganjam mandal in Prakasam district.
Ms. Papamma’s co-daughter-in-law Padma, a TDP follower, ended her life following the incident.
Amid stepped up security, the funeral of Padma was performed after a post mortem examination, even as a large number of TDP activists descended on the village to pay their last respects. The arrested were charged with rioting and abetment to suicide, Chirala DSP U. Nagaraju said, adding they were remanded in judicial custody by a magistrate court. Trouble started in the village, where a majority of 80 families backed the YSRCP in the elections, as three families, including that of Padma, worked for the TDP that won the Chirala Assembly seat, bucking the State-wide trend, sources said.
Former sarpanch Edukondalu, who is aspiring for the YSRCP ticket for the local body election, along with Ms. Papamma allegedly began to mount pressure on Padma’s family to switch allegiance after the elections, but the family reportedly refused to toe the line.
Police intervened and averted a major clash between them earlier this month and posted pickets to avert further trouble.
After a wordy duel, Ms. Papamma and her supporters allegedly stripped Padma and beat her up on Tuesday. “Unable to bear the insult, Padma ended her life,” Chinnaganjam SI Ajay Babu said.
Meanwhile, TDP Parchur MLA Y. Sambasiva Rao announced ₹1 lakh to the bereaved family, and promised to arrange funds from the NTR Trust to meet the education expenses of Padma’s two sons aged 11 and six years.
