Senior Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader and former Andhra Pradesh Minister Kimidi Kala Venkata Rao was detained by the Vizianagaram district police on Wednesday night, from his residence in Rajam town of Srikakulam district. While being moved to the police vehicle, Venkata Rao told the media that he was being picked up in connection to the tension at Ramatheertham earlier in January, when TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu had visited the temple at the same time as YSRCP MP Vijayasai Reddy.
According to reports, the former TDP Andhra Pradesh unit president was detained in connection with the case of tension that had erupted on the day of Naidu’s Ramatheertham visit. On January 2, several TDP leaders had visited the Ramatheertham temple in Vizianagaram district, where a Lord Rama idol had been vandalised a few days earlier. The leaders were protesting the alleged inaction of the ruling YSRCP government in protecting the temple.
When Vijayasai Reddy and other YSRCP leaders came down the hill after their temple visit, BJP and TDP leaders who were awaiting permission to visit the temple gathered and raised slogans against the YSRCP. Unrest followed, with TDP, BJP and YSRCP party supporters nearly coming to blows amid pushing and jostling. Some protesters even pelted stones on Vijayasai Reddy's convoy.
Kala Venkata Rao has reportedly been detained in connection to the unrest on January 2. However, police are yet to officially declare the exact reason for his detention, and it is unclear whether he has been arrested yet.
Condemning the development, Naidu said, “Appalled that @APPOLICE100 has arrested a senior politician like Kala Venkata Rao at the whim of a charlatan who lowers the dignity of his office everyday. The YSRCP is using police to settle political scores. Are there no depths this shameless govt won't sink to?” He said the state government had detained the senior leader under false charges, calling it an act of vengeance for the Ramatheertham protests.
Appalled that @APPOLICE100 has arrested a senior politician like Kala Venkata Rao at the whim of a charlatan who lowers the dignity of his office everyday. The YSRCP is using police to settle political scores. Are there no depths this shameless Govt won't sink to? pic.twitter.com/ixWxtb813j
— N Chandrababu Naidu #StayHomeSaveLives (@ncbn) January 20, 2021