No threat to Prabhakar Reddy\'s life, undergoing surgery: Harish

Hyderabad: Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Monday condemned the attack on Kotha Prabhakar Reddy, the BRS MP and the party’s candidate from Dubbak for the coming Assembly elections, and declared “there is no place for violence in a democracy.”

Hinting at the possibility of the attack being a politically motivated one, the Chief Minister, addressing a BRS public meeting at Banswada, said the “attack was not just on Prabhakar Reddy. I consider it as an attack on me.   Physical attacks by those who are unable to face us in the elections is shameful. We will not tolerate any attacks on BRS leaders or workers.”

Meanwhile, Finance Minister T Harish Rao, who is at the Yashoda Hospital in Secunderabad where Prabhakar Reddy was rushed to after the attack on him Surampally village of Daultabad mandal of Siddipet district, told reporters that the doctors said Prabhakar Reddy required a surgery and that he was undergoing the operation.

“The doctors told us and his family that he was stable and there was no danger to his life. A CT scan was taken to determine the nature and extent of injury from the stab wound,” he said.

An emotional Harish Rao said Prabhakar Reddy “is a soft-spoken person, always helpful and we cannot imagine such an attack on him. Soon after the attack, I called him on the phone and he was very disturbed and said ‘save me’.”

Harish Rao said “we condemn the attack. There is no place for such attacks in politics, people should face political challenges and not resort to physical attacks. The police are investigating and the person who attacked, Raju, was reportedly drunk but we will know the facts after the police do their investigations.”