Tension prevailed at Pulivendula town in Andhra Pradesh's Kadapa district on Sunday as activists of the TDP and the YSRCP assembled in large numbers and clashed against each other.
The foot workers of the two parties gathered at the Poola Angallu circle and pelted stones at each other, which resulted in a few people getting injured, including three policemen.
In a bid to contain the situation, the police had to open fire in the air, and impose Section 144 before taking several activists into custody. A few vehicles were also damaged in the scuffle.
The clash came in the backdrop of the escalating exchange of words between leaders of the two parties, with each party claiming that it was responsible for the town's development.
Former TDP MLC SV Sathish Reddy and YSRCP MP YS Avinash Reddy from Kadapa, had challenged each other for a public debate in the town on Sunday.
#Kadapa: Telugu Desam Party and YSR Congress Party members clashed in Pulivendula. One police personnel injured, few vehicles damaged. #AndhraPradesh pic.twitter.com/a46g8Md6II
— ANI (@ANI) March 4, 2018
Since early on Sunday morning, the police deployed a large number of personnel to guard all entrances to the town, and denied permission for any gathering, saying that it would lead to untoward incidents.
While the Kadapa MP was placed under house arrest as YSRCP activists failed the police's bid to shift him to the police station, the TDP leader was placed under house arrest in Vempalleand.
“The situation is under control. Both parties clashed with one another instead of holding a debate, leading to law and order situation,” District Superintendent of Police, A Babuji, who rushed to the town to monitor the situation, told reporters.
The activists of both the parties have been known to clash in a similar manner, several times in the past.
In March last year, tension prevailed in Subbayagudem village in Penuganchiprolu mandal of Krishna district, after workers of TDP and YSRCP clashed with lethal weapons, injuring 34 people.
Out of 34 injured people, 14 were reportedly from Telugu Desam and 20 from YSRCP.
In January last year, TDP supporters had marched from Malkapuram to Velagapudi, sprinkling turmeric water on the roads that YSRCP chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy had used during his Amaravati tour.
In response, YSRCP workers poured cow urine on the main road from Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu's residence at Undavalli to the temporary secretariat, calling it a 'cleansing act'.