TDP launches toll-free number to 'save' party workers in Andhra from attacks by YSRCP

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday launched a toll-free number, in what it dubbed as a bid to 'safeguard' party workers and supporters who were allegedly being attacked by the YSRCP, across the state.

TDP workers were asked to call the toll-free number 7306299999 in case of any threat or attack that they faced, so that the issue could be brought to the notice of the state government. 

Addressing a meeting in Guntur on Thursday, TDP leader and former state minister Nara Lokesh asked party cadre to avail the services of the number and also asked them to post about the alleged violence that they were facing, on social media.

Last month, a woman, who was reportedly a worker of opposition TDP in Andhra Pradesh, killed herself, after an alleged attack by a group belonging to the ruling YSRCP. The incident occurred at Rudramambapuram village in Chinnaganjam mandal of Prakasam district.

While the TDP claimed that 28-year-old B Padma was injured in an alleged attack by YSRCP workers on her house, the police said that she was upset over an incident during the clash, when an attacker slapped her. The incident was suspected to be a sequel to a clash between the two groups during the recent elections.

Parts of the state have been witnessing post-poll clashes between YSRCP and TDP workers for more than a month. Simultaneous elections to state Assembly and Lok Sabha were held on April 11 while the results were declared on May 23.

Even the day of the elections witnessed as many as 25 incidents of violence, which marred polling. A worker from the TDP and another of the YSRCP were killed in violence in Anantapur and Chittoor districts, while more than a dozen others including senior TDP leader and former Assembly Speaker Kodela Sivaprasad Rao were injured in clashes at various places.

"We still have simmering issues emerging but we anticipate them not to be organised but localised. We will very soon contain them but as long exist they will cause disturbances in society," Director General of Police Gautam Sawang had said last month, during a conference of district collectors in the presence of Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.