Councillor hurt in rampage by Jagan supporters

The supporters of Member of Parliament Y S Jaganmohan Reddy continued their violent protests on Wednesday, this time ransacking the municipal council office in East Godavari district and leaving at least one councillor with injuries.

Supporters of Jagan, who are campaigning to make him the state chief minister in place of his late father Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, went on a rampage inside the council office of Samarlakota in East Godavari district to prevent the members from holding their meeting.

One of the councillors S Subramanyam suffered injuries on his face after he was hit by a protestor with a plastic chair.

The police came much later, after the municipal commissoiner alerted them about the violence. Protestors destroyed all the furniture in the office, said police sources.

This was the second incident of violence by supporters of Jagan in two days. On Tuesday, they had targeted the office of Kadapa Zilla Parishad and did not allow the meeting in protest against delay in installing Jagan as the state chief minister.

While the protestors were youth workers, Congress legislators including YSR's brother Vivekananda Reddy had also allegedly participated in the protest.

The latest incident came after Congress legislators threatened to resign from the state assembly if their demand for Jagan's leadership was not accepted.

Jagan and the state Congress president D Srinivas had earlier appealed to the party leaders and workers to maintain peace.

At a press conference in Hyderabad, D Srinivas had warned that indiscipline by anybody would not be tolerated and, in case of violation, he would be forced to lodge a complaint with the party high command.

"After all we should not forget that all of us were elected under the party banner and not on our own," he had said. "It is not proper to make such statements just to get on to the television as it is ultimately going to harm us."

Jagan had in a statement issued on Wednesday had said, "Please do not forget that any action that is detrimental to the Congress party will not bring peace to the soul of my father and our beloved leader late Sri Rajasekhara Reddy. We must be loyal to the party and the leadership of our beloved leader Sonia Gandhiji and observe utmost restraint. We all should behave like disciplined Congress workers and adhere to the decision of Sonia Gandhiji."

"Please do not resort to irresponsible activities that would cause embarrassment to the high command," Jagan had said.

The statement came around the same time when at least eight Congress legislators form Kadapa and other districts made public threats to quit the assembly if Jagan was not made the chief minister.

Meanwhile, sources from YSR's family said Jagan would be going to his native place Pulivendula on October 2 to conduct religious rites marking the completion of one month since his late father's death. They added that Jagan would then hand over business responsibilities to other members of his family and devote to politics completely.

Image: Supporters of Jaganmohan Reddy protest in Hyderabad | Photograph: Snaps India