Tension marked the funeral procession of the Telangana ideologue Kothapalli Jayashankar as some irate mourners pelted stones at the Congress party office, NTR statue and tried to raid the residences of a few political leaders here on Wednesday.
Thousands of people from different walks of life and various places joined the funeral procession christened as ‘Spoorthi Yatra' by Telangana activists. The procession began from the Ekasila Park in Balasumdram at 11.30 a.m. against the scheduled time of 9 am.
The body was taken to the Telangana Martyrs Memorial near District Court and later to Kaloji Narayana Rao statue at Nakkalgutta. The procession traversed via Public Gardens and Hanamkonda chowrastha before reaching the cremation grounds near Padmakshi temple. TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao and party MLAs, academics, students, leaders of various peoples' organisations and employees associations joined the procession.
Earlier in the day, the crowds attacked Textiles Minister Mr. Shankar Rao who came to Ekasila Park to pay his respects to Prof. Jayashankar. He was chased by the furious youth and police had tough time protecting him. The police led him out safely.
When the procession reached the Hanamkonda chowrastha, scores of unruly youth hurled stones at the District Congress Bhavan shouting slogans against the party and its leaders.
The district police arranged elaborate security. Hundreds of armed policemen followed the funeral procession regulating the traffic and controlling the frenzied crowds. They had to use force to disperse the youth who pelted stones at the Congress party office leading to commotion.
Businessmen in Hanamkonda town voluntarily closed down their shops and establishments as a mark of respect to the senior citizen. Schools and colleges remained closed following the call given by Students Joint Action Committee of Kakatiya University and Osmania University.
At the cremation grounds, KCR, P. Kodandaram and other leaders carried Prof. Jayashankar's body from the truck to the grounds where his adopted son performed the last rites.
Supreme Court judge Justice B. Sudarshan Reddy, High Court judge Justice M. Narasimha Reddy and Vizianagaram District Collector M. Veerabadraiah were among those who paid their respects to the Professor.
Many retired bureaucrats, editors, academics, writers and poets came from different parts of the State to pay homage to Mr. Jayashankar. The political JAC leaders appealed to the Congress and TDP leaders who wished to come and pay their respects to stay away as the situation was out of control. Despite repeated appeals to stay calm, the irate crowds went on attacking the political leaders except those of TRS .
