Fire guts Congress publicity material for Munugode bypoll

HYDERABAD: Fire in a storeroom that stocked publicity material of the Congress in Chandur town of the bypoll-bopund Munugode constituency set off a storm of protests from party leaders who alleged that the incident was a case of arson by BJP and TRS workers.

The fire gutted campaign material of the party for the November 3 bypoll.

The fire damage was discovered on Tuesday morning by local Congress workers who went to the to prepare for Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president A. Revanth Reddy’s campaign in the constituency on Tuesday.

Soon after, Revanth Reddy accused the BJP and TRS of being the culprits and declared that these two parties were scared of the increasing support to Congress candidate Palvai Sravanthi. This was a bid to sabotage her chances in the byelection, Revanth Reddy alleged. He was joined in his demand for an immediate police investigation and catching of the culprits, by other Congress leaders who too accused the TRS and BJP of being responsible for the incident.

Meanwhile, the Chandur police of Nalgonda district registered a case against unidentified miscreants. The Chandur police said a case has been registered and special teams have been deputed to identify and trace the miscreants involved in the offence. Further investigation is under progress, they said.

Among those joining Revanth Reddy in condemning the ‘vandalisation’ of party office in Chandur, K.C. Venugopal, AICC general secretary, condemned the incident saying it was the handiwork of the BJP and the TRS. “We strongly condemn this act of cowardly desperation. Both BJP & TRS are unnerved by the response Congress is receiving here,” he tweeted.

Congress’ Telangana incharge Manickam Tagore urged the Election Commission to “intervene as BJP government’s Rs 18000 crores and TRS government’s crores are used and violence unleashed on us.”

Ever since the news broke in the morning hours that Chandur’s party office was ‘vandalised’, the Congress leadership pointed fingers at the rivals, citing PCC chief A. Revanth Reddy’s scheduled visit in the evening for the campaign.

Congress candidate Palvai Sravanthi who spoke to local police officials also blamed the incident on her rivals. She felt that after these parties which had failed in their attempts to trigger dissent with the help of money were now resorting to violence.

“They are threatened by the overwhelming support the Congress was receiving. Campaign material was completely damaged. Undeterred by this, we are going ahead with four road shows in the Mandal. Our party lodged a complaint with the police and I spoke to SP on this,” she told Deccan Chronicle.