A live television debate on the Telugu news channel ABN Andhrajyothi turned ugly when one of the panellists threw his sandal at a BJP leader on Tuesday. A member of the Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi Joint Action Committee (JAC) Kolikapudi Srinivasa Rao hurled his footwear at BJP state General Secretary S Vishnu Vardhan Reddy during the televised debate.
The debate was on the decision by the Andhra Pradesh government to extend a government guarantee to raise Rs 3,000 crore from banks to complete Amaravati projects.
The BJP leader was commenting on how former chief ministers went on tours and travelled by flight to seek loans, and advertised it. Other panellists, including Srinivasa, stated that Vishnu was trivialising the topic being discussed by commenting on efforts of former chief ministers.
Vishu said, "In our country, anyone seeks loan secretly, but in Andhra Pradesh, we saw great chief ministers and the planning commission chairman, who have gone on flights to Mumbai and sought loans by openly ringing the bell and by stating we are asking for a loan."
Other panellists interrupted Vishnu, saying his comment was unwarranted, but Vishnu claimed it was unfair to disturb him while he was trying to make a point. All the while, Srinivasa kept commenting that Vishnu's statements were “nonsense."
The BJP leader then asked Srinivasa to stop repeating the same, to which Srinivasa responded by saying that he will repeat the word “nonsense” a hundred times if needed. Vishnu then warned that Srinivasa was crossing his limits.
The quality of the debate, moderated by Venkata Krishna, devolved further even as the journalist tried to pacify both sides. Vishnu then accused Srinivasa of being a paid agent of the opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which resulted in the JAC leader flinging his sandal at the BJP General Secretary.
The ABN anchor apologised to his viewers for the ruckus in the studio and assured the BJP leader that the channel would stand with him if he wished to press charges.
BJP state Chief Somu Veerraju appealed to ABN to take responsibility and file a police complaint against Srinivasa. The channel stated that it has removed Srinivasa Rao from panels for future debates.
K Krishna Saagar Rao, the Chief Spokesperson for BJP Telangana State also reacted on the incident saying, "I strongly condemn physical attack by an unscrupulous goon on BJP Andhra Pradesh General Secretary Vishnuvardhan Reddy in a live TV show. Disagreement and difference of opinions are natural in a democracy. However, no one has a right to physically attak someone with that pretext. This kind of violent behaviour is unacceptable in public discourse and will certainly have legal consequences."