Political Slugfest Erupts Between BRS, Congress Over Attack on MP

Hyderabad: A political slugfest has erupted between the BRS and the Congress over the attack on BRS Medak MP Kothakota Prabhakar Reddy, with BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao holding "Congress goons" responsible for the attack.

"I strongly condemn the murder attempt on BRS MP Sri Prabhakar Reddy Garu by Congress Goons. Desperate Congress now resorting to physical elimination attempts of our leaders in Telangana. This was of course to be expected with a 3rd rate Criminal being made the TPCC president. Violence has no place in democratic society and I hope the Election Commission of India will take serious action in this regard (sic)," tweeted Rama Rao.

His allegations were based on a photograph posted on social media platforms, which showed the attacker Gaddam Raju wearing a Congress kanduva. It turned out that the photograph was not of the attacker but of one Poteti Narsimhulu.

Responding to his photo being circulated on social media as the attacker, Narsimhulu posted a video statement denying any links with Raju.

“I am Poteti Narsimhulu. I hail from Mirdoddi village. But the person who attacked the MP is Raju. He is from Chityala village. But a few people posted my photo wearing Congress kanduva on social media platforms wrongly claiming me to be Raju. They used my photo and made it viral on social media platforms. I decided to file a case against those responsible for this," Narsimhulu explained.

Netizens trolled Rama Rao for blaming the Congress without verifying facts. They said the BRS was using a man's photo who was not Raju and blaming the Congress. They asked why Rama Rao suddenly jumped into conclusion and blamed the Congress without knowing the facts about who the person was.

Responding to Rama Rao’s allegations, TPCC chief A. Revanth Reddy said in a tweet that it showed the dirty attempts of Rama Rao to use this incident for petty political purposes.

Dubbing Rama Rao as "Drama Rao", Revanth Reddy said the people of Telangana were watching the way Rama Rao and his father and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao enacted a new drama to gain political mileage in Assembly elections.

While condemning the attack on MP, Revanth Reddy said the Congress strongly believed that violence had no place in democracy. "The Congress is a party which used non-violence as a weapon during the Independence movement and achieved the goal. It's not a tough task for the Congress, which achieved Independence for the country, to defeat a political dwarf like your father."

In his reaction, Union minister and BJP state president G. Kishan Reddy said, “the BJP believes in democracy. I condemn the incident.”

BJP MLA M. Raghunandan Rao condemned the attack on the BRS MP and said the attack is painful and unfortunate. “Raju who attacked him is a Congress activist and I have no connection with the incident. When attacks are happening on BJP cadre, the police remained a bystander. There is no role for violence in a democracy. I will go and visit the person in the hospital.”

Finance minister T. Harish Rao, who rushed to the hospital to be present when Prabhakar Reddy was brought in an ambulance, said the MP was “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.”