Watch: Ruckus over Jagan portrait replacing Naidu’s at Vijayawada Municipal Council hall
A scuffle broke out during a council meeting of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation on Saturday after portraits of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders and former Chief Ministers N T Rama Rao and N Chandrababu Naidu were replaced with pictures of YSRCP chief and present CM Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy at the council hall.
The incident came to light on Saturday as Vijayawada mayor Koneru Sridhar observed that NTR and Naidu's portraits had been removed by corporation officials from the council hall ahead of a meeting. Irked by this, he ordered that the portraits come back, especially that of NTR.
Immediately, the YSRCP councillors staged a protest and demanded that if NTR's photo was to be placed in the council hall permanantly, then a portrait of former Andhra CM Y S Rajasekhar Reddy should also find a permanant place in the building .
Videos of the incident showed ruckus prevailing in the meeting as several TDP and YSRCP councillors were seen sparring and shouting at each other. Watch a video below.
#WATCH Andhra Pradesh: A ruckus ensued at Vijayawada Municipal Council meeting today after portraits of TDP leaders NT Rama Rao and N Chandrababu Naidu were replaced with pictures of CM & YSRCP chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy at the council hall. pic.twitter.com/vbfqu8z95d
— ANI (@ANI) June 22, 2019
The TDP lost power to YSRCP in Andhra Pradesh in the recent elections. The party could secure only 23 seats of the 151 Assembly seats. It won only three of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
The party also plunged into a crisis earlier this week with four of its six Rajya Sabha members including Naidu's close confidantes Y S Chowdary and C M Ramesh joining the BJP.
Naidu, who is currently holidaying abroad in Europe along with his family members, held a teleconference with party leaders available at his residence in Amaravati.
The TDP chief told them that this situation is not new to the party as it had witnessed many such crises in its 36-year-old history. He advised the party leaders and cadres not to get worried by the defections.
IANS inputs