TD flays police over failure to check \'wrong\' activities of pastor

VIJAYAWADA: Former minister and senior Telugu Desam leader Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy on Sunday demanded that the AP Police explain as to why they have failed to restrain pastor Praveen Chakravarthy from making “derogatory comments” against Hindu religion and allowed these go viral.

He told a media conference that the police did not take immediate action in the pastor's video case and, instead, went about making arrests of those posting social media comments for protection of temples and idols in the state. “The pastor's comments have only exposed how there was a deep conspiracy behind conversions and behind the ongoing attacks on Hinduism in Andhra Pradesh,” he said.

Murthy alleged that under the Jagan Reddy rule, desecrations and acts of vandalism were going on at temples. “The DGP should explain to the people why he had not yet ordered a detailed inquiry into the objectionable activities of the pastor. It should be investigated as to who were supporting this pastor from their bases in America,” he said.

He demanded that all those behind Praveen's “unholy activities” should be identified and stern action taken against them.

Murthy said a pastor had made highly objectionable comments from Bellampalli on former chief minister Chandrababu Naidu but the DGP did not take any action. “It is high time the central government intervened and ended the ongoing attacks on the Hindu temples in AP. It was only due to sheer negligence of the YSRC government that the miscreants are becoming so bold,” he said.