Tension in Vijayawada after Vangaveeti Radha's followers protest denial of YSRCP ticket

Some even poured petrol on their own bodies and threatened to set themselves afire, but were foiled by the police.
Tension in Vijayawada after Vangaveeti Radha's followers protest denial of YSRCP ticket
Tension in Vijayawada after Vangaveeti Radha's followers protest denial of YSRCP ticket
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Tension prevailed in Vijayawada as a large number of people took to the streets, to protest the YSRCP's speculated move, to deny former MLA Vangaveeti Radhakrishna, a ticket from the city's Central constituency. 

Angry followers gathered at the statue of Radhakrishna's father, Vangaveeti Mohana Ranga Rao, on MG Road, to raise slogans. Some even threatened to kill themselves if the YSRCP went ahead with the decision. 

Some even poured petrol on their own bodies and threatened to set themselves afire, but were foiled by the police. 

The crowd was pacified after Radhakrishna, who was inside his home nearby until then, reached out to his followers and asked them to call off their protest.

The YSRCP is apparently looking at fielding former MLA Malladi Vishnu, who had defected from the Congress, and won from the same seat earlier. As compensation, the party could field Radhakrishna from the Machilipatnam Parliamentary constituency. 

However, followers of the Vangaveeti family were irked, as Vijayawada Central has historically been their bastion. The YSRCP is expected to officially announce its decision on Tuesday, after holding talks with all parties. 

Radhakrishna's father, Vangaveeti Ranga, was a former MLA, who made his way up from gang rivalries and faction wars in the 1970s in Vijayawada, before he joined politics and became a Kapu leader in the 80s.   

In the early hours of December 25, 1988, Ranga was on an indefinite fast in Vijayawada, when he was assassinated by members of a rival group in public.

Over 40 people were killed and property worth several crore rupees were destroyed due to the violence that followed Ranga's murder in Vijayawada.

The violence only abated after the then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister NT Rama Rao made TDP legislator Devineni 'Nehru' Rajasekhar surrender. The then home minister Kodela Sivaprasada Rao also had to resign.

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