The sensational killing of Araku MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao and former MLA Siveru Soma in the agency area of Visakhapatnam district on Sunday afternoon brought back haunting images of similar killings of the then Sirpur MLA Palvai Purushotham Rao and Makthal MLA Chittem Narsi Reddy by Maoists, for the respective family members.
To recall, Purushotham Rao along with three of his personal security officers was gunned down inside his office in Sirpur Paper Mill Township on September 15, 1999. Mr. Narsi Reddy and 10 others too fell to naxalite bullets at the Independence Day function in Narayanpet mandal headquarters of Mahabubnagar district on August 15, 2005.
The D-Day
Former Congress Minister D.K. Aruna, daughter of late Narsi Reddy, and Palvai Rajyalaxmi and Dr. Palvai Harish Babu, wife and son of late Purushotham Rao spoke to The Hindu on Sunday recalling the dreadful deaths.
Palvai Rajyalaxmi, wife of slain TDP MLA Palvai Purushotham Rao, glued to the TV set in her residence at Kagaznagar of KB Asifabad district.
“It was Independence Day celebrations and as usual since morning, we had a busy schedule. I hoisted the National Flag in Gadwal and came home after a series of programmes to have my lunch. Suddenly there was message on the police wireless VHF set about naxalites firing at my father Narsi Reddy and others,” Ms. Aruna recalled.
Collateral damage
She said late Narsi Reddy had come to SC Colony in Narayanpet mandal headquarters where he was laying the foundation stone for a school building. “He just broke the coconut when all of a sudden there was a burst of fire; the next moment my father fell down in a pool of blood. There was indiscriminate firing which led to the death of nine more persons including my brother Venkateshwar Reddy,” the former Minister remembered.
Ms. Aruna said the Araku MLA’s killing should come as a warning signal to all the elected leaders and politicians. “When everyone is under the impression that naxalite activity is under control, this particular killing should alert us. Such incidents can take place in Telangana in the run-up to the Assembly elections,” she said.
Painful violence
Talking to The Hindu over phone from Kagaznagar, Kumram Bheem-Asifabad district, Ms. Palvai Rajyalaxmi, who won as TDP MLA after her husband’s death said: “It was only 15 minutes after my husband (Purushotham Rao) left home that we got a telephone call about the firing. I really feel bad about the incident and such violence even today is painful.”
Dr. Palvai Harish Babu, son of the former Sirpur MLA, who was pursuing medicine in Osmania Medical College then, has vivid memory of the incident in which his father was killed. “I had come down to Kagaznagar for vacation after completion of my first year exams. I was supposed to catch Andhra Pradesh Express to New Delhi at Kagaznagar station for an event in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). I got up at 6.30 a.m. and made a telephone call and saw my dad getting ready to go to his office to meet people,” he recollected.
“The next thing I remember is getting a call on the landline informing us that my father has been shot dead along with three gunmen. We all rushed there to see my dad in a pool of blood inside Praja Karyalayam (people’s office), which he had fondly named the party office. He was known as people’s man and was accessible to everyone,” Dr. Harish said remembering his father’s image in the constituency.
The doctor-turned-politician says there is no place for violence in the democratic process. “People can raise their voice and fight for their right but they do not have any right to kill a person just because he or she does not agree with their views,” he opined.
