Reminiscent of a Tollywood movie, dramatic scenes unfolded in Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday when a ruling party MLA went to an opposition leader's home to clarify some rumours going viral on social media. Kethireddy Peddareddy, YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) MLA from Tadipatri, went to Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader JC Prabhakar Reddy's home on Thursday. He arrived at Prabhakar Reddy's home in two vehicles and sat there for a little while as sparks flew, considering that they are known rivals.
The reason for the visit was a viral audio clip, which accused MLA Peddareddy's wife of extorting Rs 10,000 for a cartload of sand. The clip prompted him to visit JC Prabhakar Reddy's home, to ask why such news was being propagated against him.
As JC Prabhakar Reddy was not present at home, Peddareddy claimed that he sat in the waiting area for a short while and left. "I went to his (Reddy's) home to tell him not to provoke people. That's why I went to his home," said Peddareddy.
He said his intention was not to attack or anything like that but only to clarify. However, reports suggest that Peddareddy’s followers ransacked the house to express their anger over the viral audio clip, in which they suspected JC Prabhakar Reddy’s followers had a role to play. An aide of the TDP leader, Dasari Kiran, was reportedly beaten up by the MLA’s followers, according to Deccan Chronicle.
Meanwhile, on being informed about the MLA’s visit, JC Prabhakar Reddy returned to his home and said that Peddareddy should summon the people who figured in the viral conversation rather than approaching him. "When those two people were talking, talk to those two people," suggested JC Prabhakar Reddy.
The whole episode led to some tense moments for the police, as there was stone pelting, pushing and shoving outside JC Prabhakar Reddy’s house, between followers of the two leaders.
The police struggled to bring the situation under control which eventually did not lead to any untoward incident.
Enraged by Peddareddy arriving and sitting at JC Prabhakar Reddy's home, the latter's supporters burnt the chair in which the former sat.
With inputs from IANS