WARANGAL: Tension prevailed here for the consecutive second day on Monday after Parkal MLA Challa Dharma Reddy made some controversial comments against collection of funds for the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra.
The TRS called for a bandh in Parkal in protest against the attack on the MLA’s residence on Sunday. Party activists set fire to the name-board of the BJP office during the wee hours, shouting slogans of ‘Jai Challa’. Later, TRS men forced business establishments to down their shutters and held a rasta roko on NH 353. They raised slogans against the BJP leaders and burned an effigy of the BJP.
Parkal sub-inspector K. Srikanth said four persons were detained and a case has been registered. The four tried to force their entry into the BJP office after burning the effigy.
Heavy police deployment has been ordered across erstwhile Warangal district, mainly in front of houses of TRS leaders and public representatives. Barricades were also placed at the entrances to the city and vehicles from outside were being checked before entry.
Some BJP leaders were scheduled to visit the affected areas after the stone-pelting on the BJP office in Hanamkonda. Police refused them entry to Warangal. BJP MLA from Goshamahal, Raja Singh, was stopped at Ghatkesar. Former MP and Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation (GWMC) poll incharge A.P. Jithender Reddy was stopped by cops at Aler and detained at the police station.
Later in the day, 44 BJP workers, including BJP Warangal Urban district president Rao Padma, accused of pelting stones at MLA Challa Dharma Reddy’s residence, were produced before a court and shifted to the central jail on 14-days’ judicial remand.
Police said more arrests were likely over the stone-pelting incident.
