Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MLA Rasamai Balakishan’s vehicle was attacked on Sunday, November 13, by a group of protesting youth organisations on the state highway in Telangana’s Karimnagar district. The youths were protesting in demand of a double road from Gundlapalli to Ganneruvaram, when MLA Rasamai Balakishan’s convoy passed through the road. The protesters were seen surrounding the Manakonduru MLA’s car and hitting it, before the police resorted to lathi charge and dispersed the crowd.
The protesters were taken to the Timmapur police station. District Congress Committee (DCC) president Kavvampalli Satyanarayana who expressed his solidarity with the youth organisations and participated in the protest was taken to police station along with the protesters.
MLA Rasamai Balakishan later spoke to the media and slammed the DCC president for supporting the protesters. “I was attending a function. We (TRS) are the ones who sent the proposal for sanctioning the double road to Bandi Sanjay, who is the Karimnagar Member of Parliament,” he said. “This protest, carried out with the support of Kavvampalli Satyanarayana, was only done with an intention to cause fear among common man,” he added. "He got some useless people who attacked suddenly by hiding and causing trouble to the ambulances and women,” he said.
According to reports, local youth organisations had called for a ‘Mahadharna’ to demand a double road near Gundlapalli on Sunday. The protest was attended by hundreds of people from nearby villages. Protesters surrounded MLA Balakishan’s convoy when it approached, and raised slogans demanding the MLA’s resignation. While there was some traffic congestion on the highway as a result of the scuffle, police soon defused the situation.
Earlier, Congress leaders in the state had complained to the Chief Election Officer against Rasamayi Balakishan and also demanded that he be removed from his post. The complaint came after a video of him circulated, in which he is heard saying that Rs 2 crore of development funds intended for the Manakondur Assembly constituency would be diverted to the Munugode segment ahead of the bye-elections there. At the time, DCC chief Kavvampalli Satyanarayana had said that Balakishan “lacks awareness of the responsibilities of a legislator”, according to The New Indian Express.