Bull races despite curbs in Chandrababu Naidu's turf

Chittoor: Not withstanding to the Supreme Court orders against holding bull races or Jallikattu, several villages in Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s native district Chittoor held the dangerous sport on Monday.

At least 2 persons were injured at N. Kottapalli in CM’s Kuppam constituency when a bull went berserk and damaged a windshield of a van during bull race held in the village on Monday. Locals managed to pacify the bull latter.

Incidentally this is not first time the bulls chased by villagers going amok and attacking vehicles and people. It may be mentioned here that 25 persons were hurt grievously and a furious bull damaged a police jeep  during Jallikattu in 2012. As many as 30 people hurt in a similar event at Baireddipalle near Kuppam in 2011.

In a latest incident at Gudupalle mandal, two bulls chased by villagers were crushed to death under the wheels of a train engine in Jolarpettai-Bengaluru section on Sunday. Bull races similar to Jallikattu were held in 4 villages of Chandragiri mandal also on Monday but the events were incident free.

However, in case of another such event, several youth were injured while trying to tame the racing bulls at Regalachenu village in Ramachandrapuram mandal of Chittoor district.

A resident of Ramireddypalle located next to Rangampeta, Kotala Chandrasekhar Reddy struck down reports over prize money for those taming the frenzied bulls and offering liquor to the cattle.

He said their cattle including bulls and cows are usually in the forest area located close by and they bring them on the day of cattle festival (Pasuvula Panduga) and decorate them with colours after giving a bath.

He said the bull race was held at Mallayyapalli, Dornakambala, Madapampalli and Gangudupalli of Chandragiri mandal on Monday and there were no incidents. He said Chandragiri legislator Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy also took part in the event.

When contacted Mr Bhaskar Reddy said holding bull races on the occasion of Sankranti is more than 150 years old tradition and he can not avoid attending being a people’s representative though personally he is against it. He said leaders of all the parties and even relatives of Chief Minister will also be present during the event.