Anantapur: Health minister and Dharmavaram MLA Satyakumar Yadav faced a protest from Telugu Desam (TD) cadres in Dharmavaram town, Satyasai district, on Saturday, demanding the replacement of the municipal commissioner. The TD leaders have been protesting the reappointment of Mallikarjuna as the municipal commissioner of Dharmavaram municipality. Mallikarjuna had previously worked as commissioner during the YSRC regime and was accused of harassing the TD cadres.
Despite TD leaders informing Minister Satyakumar, who is from the BJP, of their demand to change the commissioner, their request was reportedly ignored. Mallikarjuna rejoined his position a few days ago with police protection. TD leader Paritala Sreeram also declared that the party would not tolerate Mallikarjuna working in Dharmavaram again, accusing him of supporting large-scale irregularities under the then YSRC MLA Ketineni Venkatrami Reddy.
The situation grew tense on Saturday evening when a large number of TD activists gathered at the BJP office and the camp office of Minister Satyakumar Yadav, staging a protest. The protest led to road blockages and disrupted traffic. Despite police efforts to disperse the protestors, they continued their demonstration until the minister left the office in his vehicle. The TD supporters shouted slogans against the minister, demanding their request to replace the commissioner be considered.
