YSRCP and TDP blame each other for Pulivendula violence
While Kadapa MP Avinash Reddy accuses the police of trying to create scare among YSRCP activists, TDP leader ‘B.Tech’ Ravi says the YSR family and its supporters are finding it hard to stomach the large number of aspirants filing nominations in its citadel
On Saturday, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Koya Praveen, Collector Sreedhar Cherukuri and Superintendent of Police Nachiket Vishwanath Shelke addressed a media conference in Kadapa following violent incidents in Pulivendula during the nomination phase of local body elections. The controversy has prompted both the YSRCP and NDA partners to place blame on each other.
Kadapa Member of Parliament Y.S. Avinash Reddy accused the Police Department of using lathi-charge, tear-gas and firing in order to intimidate his party's activists. He argued that the senior police officials had initially permitted his party candidates to file nominations at the scheduled time but later ordered them to "go back and return tomorrow."
He also questioned why his party candidates were not allowed to file their nominations at the promised time. In contrast, TDP leader 'B.Tech' Ravi claimed that YSRCP members and supporters could not accept the fact that numerous aspirants were filing nominations in Kadapa's citadel, leading to the violence. He urged the State Election Commission to provide security to all candidates during the nomination filing phase and ensure their acceptance without any bias.
Police officials stated that the heavy crowd of aspirants gathered on an auspicious date to file nominations, which led to the violence. Any candidate violating prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Karnataka Representation of the People Act was stopped and pushed away, with tear gas being used in such instances.
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