TIRUPATI: 499 Telugu Desam leaders and workers had been booked in relation to the clashes with police at Bheemaganipalle junction in Punganur mandal on August 4 last year, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has stated in the legislative assembly.
The CM referred to this while releasing the 'White Paper on Law and Order'. He described the incidents at Bheemaganipalle in Punganur mandal and Angallu in Kurbalakota mandal of Annamayya district, during his visit to the region, as “a case study” for the state.
In these incidents, the police have filed hundreds of cases against TD leaders and workers, including the party chief, he noted.
TD leaders had alleged that these cases were politically motivated and that the then minister and current Punganur MLA Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy influenced the Chittoor and Annamayya districts’ police to file false cases against TD cadres.
According to reports, in the Bheemaganipalle incident, 7 cases were registered, with local TD chief Challa Ramachandra Reddy as the prime accused. The unusual scenario of police filing seven attempted-murder cases against a single individual on the same day had raised eyebrows.
The cases initially targeted eight leaders and 238 party workers, with an additional 254 people listed as “others” in the chargesheet. Of these, Challa, three other leaders, and 215 TD workers were arrested and held in jails across Kadapa, Chittoor and Madanapalle sub-jail. Five TD leaders and 207 party workers got anticipatory bail, while others went into hiding for months before securing bail. Some detainees spent up to 42 days in Kadapa central prison before being granted bail.
Stating these, the Chief Minister spoke of a broader pattern of legal actions against opposition figures during the YSRC term. During these five years, 17 cases were filed against Naidu, the then opposition leader. The majority of these cases were registered by the CID.
Palamaner MLA Amarnath Reddy faced 26 cases, including two attempted-murder charges related to the Angallu dispute. Bode Ramachandra Yadav, leader of the Bharata Chaitanya Yuvajana Party (BCYP), faced 27 cases, mostly registered in police stations within the Punganur assembly segment.
Punganur is currently represented by YSRC MLA Peddireddy Ramchandra Reddy.
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