Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Chandrababu Naidu has alleged that two supporters of TDP were brutally attacked in Prakasam district by supporters of the ruling YSRCP. Calling the YSRCP’s rule a “jungle raj”, Naidu demanded that the culprits who attempted to murder the TDP supporters must be punished stringently. The incident occurred in Santhamaguluru mandal of Prakasam district in Andhra Pradesh, near Sagar canal at Mamillapalli. Two TDP supporters, Krishnayya Yadav and Veeraswamy, were on a bike when they were allegedly waylaid and attacked with knives and sharp weapons on Saturday night.
According to reports, the suspects and the victims have had a longstanding rivalry. However, Raghavamma, the wife of one of the victims Krishnayya, is the Kundurru MPTC (Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency) candidate from the TDP in the upcoming local body elections. This has given rise to allegations that the attack was politically motivated.
“Other than injustice and attacks, YS Jagan has done nothing for the people. In Prakasam district’s Santhamaguluru mandal, Kunduru MPTC candidate Raghavamma’s husband Krishnayya Yadav, as well as Veeraswamy, were attacked by YSRCP workers with knives. I strongly condemn this incident,” Chandrababu Naidu wrote on Twitter. “Out of his fear of losing the (local body) elections, Jagan Reddy is taking such cowardly steps across the state,” he added.
The local body elections were previously scheduled to be held in the last week of March 2020. Due to the pandemic, the elections have since been postponed. While making the announcement about postponing the elections, State Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar had also made several allegations against the ruling YSRCP regarding attacks on candidates from opposition parties to discourage them from filing nominations.
Ramesh Kumar had also alleged that the police in the state were enabling the alleged violence by YSRCP workers. Since then, the SEC and the ruling YSRCP have been at loggerheads. While the State Election Commissioner has now sought to conduct the local body polls in February, the government has expressed reluctance citing a possible second wave of COVID-19 infections.