Tension prevailed at Venkateswaranagar of Jagadgirigutta in Kukatpally when the statue of late P. Janardhan Reddy, former Minister and Congress leader, was found damaged on Tuesday morning.
Supporters of the PJR, as the late leader was popularly known, staged demonstration in the area condemning the act. Hundreds of Congress workers and locals gathered at the junction urging the police to catch the culprits immediately.
PJR’s son, P.Vishnuvardhan Reddy, came there with his supporters. He pacified the agitating Congress workers not to resort to violence over the incident. The protesting Congress activists took out a rally from Venkateswaranagar to Bhagyanagar colony where they squatted on the road holding up the morning peak hour traffic for some time.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Kukatpally Inspector, V. Surender Reddy, told reporters that unidentified persons broke the left hand of the statue till the wrist. “The damage must have been done after Monday midnight. Municipal workers cleaning the road alerted the locals about the damage in the early hours,” he said.
Police suspect some locals could be behind the damaging of the statue. They went up the steel stair case and broke the hand made of plaster of paris by hitting with a blunt object, they felt.