YSRCP worker held in Palnadu over provocative slogans
A senior official from Nakarikallu police station in Sattenapalli block said the police had taken into custody YSRCP worker Ravi Teja, who was purportedly seen in the videos and pictures carrying placards that had instigated violence during the visit of party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to Rentapala village on Wednesday to call on the family members of a party leader who died by suicide in June 2024.
'We shall produce them in the court for judicial remand,' he said.
The show of strength during Jagan's visit and provocative slogans raised by the YSRCP workers during his Palnadu tour evoked strong reactions from the TDP leaders.
TDP president and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu strongly condemned the instigation of violence by the YSRCP leaders during Jagan's visit to Palnadu. 'In politics, a new batch is trying to introduce violent culture in politics. The YSRCP leaders are creating a situation where rowdies are being seen as heroes, and peace and order is seen as incompetent,' he said, speaking to reporters in Visakhapatnam.
He expressed surprise over Jagan unveiling the statue of the party worker. 'How can anybody unveil statues of persons belonging to drug peddlers, betting mafia, rowdies and those who commit murders and rapes?' he asked.
Senior TDP leader and state finance minister Payyavula Keshav said, 'Whom exactly are you planning to kill? If a YSRCP worker carries such placards, Jagan, as a former chief minister, should have condemned it. Instead, he seems to be supporting it.'
Jagan, however, defended such slogans stating that they only reflect the public anger. Stating that the slogan was taken out from a dialogue in the popular film: Pushpa-2, he asked: 'What's wrong with using a film dialogue on a banner? Aren't we still in a democracy?'
He said people were disgusted so much with Naidu's government that they were compelled to react strongly to its misrule.
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