Tension prevails as BJP-TD men clash

Vijayawada/Rajahmundry: A day after Nandamuri Balakrishna’s outburst against PM Modi, the BJP carried out protests against the actor and Telugu Desam MLA and burnt his effigies across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Speaking to newsmen, BJP MLC, Somu Veer Raju raised serious objection to the tone and tenor of aspersion cast on Mr Modi during the CM Naidu’s Dharma Porata Deeksha held recently with a demand for according special category status. He alleged that when the legislator was using such uncivilised language, the CM was seen smiling instead of condemning it.

The situation was no better in Nellore as tension prevailed at the Trunk Road when BJP and TD cadres came to blows after the saffron party men set fire to the effigy of film star Balakrishna near the Gandhi statue on Saturday.

Activists of both the TD and the BJP came face to face when the former came to perform an abhishekam to the statue of Mahatma Gandhi to mark their protest against the Centre for not granting the special category status to Andhra Pradesh.

Unable to bear the sight of them torching the effigy of Balakrishna, the TD men led by Kuvvarapu Balaji and Thane Masthan attacked the BJP cadres and the latter also retaliated, though their numbers were less. As many as eight BJP men were injured in the melee and they were rushed to Jayabharat Hospital for treatment.

In Visakhapatnam, leaders and activists of BJP led by Visakhapatnam North MLA, P. Vishnu Kumar Raju, and MLC P.V.N. Madhav, on Saturday, met the Governor of AP and Telangana ESL Narasimhan in the city, seeking action against Balakrishna.

Vishnu Kumar Raju and Madhav submitted a memorandum to Mr Narasimhan, who is in Visakhapatnam city, and they requested the Governor to take appropriate action against Balakrishna for his objectionable and unparliamentary language and use of gestures denigrating the PM during the ‘Dharma Porata Deeksha’ in Vijayawada on Friday.

In their memorandum, the saffron party leaders mentioned that Balakrishna defamed PM Modi and his speech transgressed the limits of decency as it also included a threat against Modi, they added.

Being an MLA, Balakrishna should speak in decent language, but what sort of language has he used, they pointed out. Besides dismissing Balakrishna from his MLA post, the Chief Minister should also arrest him for making derogatory remarks while holding a public office.

Tirupati was also not without response to the comments by Balakrishna, and here, senior BJP leader and former TTD board member, Mr Bhanu Prakash Reddy, approached police and complained about Nandamuri Balakrishna at the SP office in Tirupati on Saturday.

The BJP leader has requested the police to take action against the Hindupur Legislature. Speaking to media persons, Mr Bhanu slammed Balakrishna, claiming that, "Balakrishna just spoke like a drunkard, everyone knows he has mental disorders. Anyway we are going legally and will put him behind the bars. He has to express an open apology to the Prime Minister."