K. Umashankar | The Hindu | January 2023
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national president N. Chandrababu Naidu on August 4 (Friday) blamed Energy Minister Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy and the district police administration for the “attack on the TDP cadres” near Punganur.
Mr. Naidu was addressing people on the bypass road on the outskirts of Punganur town, where violence broke out ahead of his visit, which forced the police to resort to lathi-charge and use teargas shells to quell the mob.
The TDP supremo alleged that Mr. Ramachandra Reddy engineered the attack with a view to disrupting his ‘Yuddha Bheri’ (visit to unfinished irrigation projects) programme.
Demanding a “thorough inquiry” into the Punganur violence, Mr. Naidu said that the Chittoor Superintendent of Police should own responsibility for it.
“Those responsible for the attack should be suspended and booked. I have never seen such a violent attack like this in all my life,” Mr. Naidu said.
The TDP chief said that the YSRCP government could no longer stifle the voice of people questioning its atrocities.
Had the TDP cadres retaliated against the attack of the YSRCP activists (allegedly with the tacit support of the police), things would have turned serious, he observed.
He said that people’s revolt against the YSRCP was just the beginning, and its downfall was imminent.
Appealing to the party cadres not to fear, Mr. Naidu said, “Every drop of blood shed by the TDP activists is my blood. Every assault on TDP workers will be considered as an assault on me.”
“Despite the attack, the party cadres have come to welcome me with bleeding injuries and blood-stained clothes,” Mr. Naidu said, and vowed to stand by them in all their travails.
Taking a dig at Mr. Ramachandra Reddy, the TDP chief said, “Punganur is not your grandfather’s fiefdom.”
“I also hail from Chittoor district,” Mr. Naidu said, and asked the party cadres to “go ahead with the mission of “Why not Punganur.”
“Why not 175 seats?” Mr. Naidu asked, and added that the TDP was prepared to contest the 2024 elections with that motto.
Responding to the appeals of the party cadres to visit Punganur town, Mr. Naidu assured that he would visit every street in the town soon.
Earlier, while addressing the cadres at Angallu village, near Madanapalle in Annamayya district, Mr. Naidu condemned the attack on the TDP cadres by the YSRCP activists.
Later, Mr. Naidu left for Puthalapattu, near Chittoor, along the bypass road amidst heavy police bandobast.
Meanwhile, Mr. Ramachandra Reddy refuted the allegations of Mr. Naidu, saying that they were baseless. As Mr. Naidu was losing public support, he was forced to resort to gimmicks and create trouble in Punganur.
The Minister demanded that Mr. Naidu be booked as the first accused in the Punganur incident.
Mr. Ramachandra Reddy alleged that Mr. Naidu had come to Punganur with a “pucca sketch,” prompting the TDP cadres to carry lethal weapons, stones and sticks in their vehicles.
