Andhra Pradesh police arrest 11 people for attack on TDP’s office

The former MLA from Gannavaram was also named as an accused in the case. However, the Andhra Pradesh High Court in August directed the police to refrain from taking any coercive action against him

Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh Police on Friday arrested 11 people, including a personal aide of YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) leader and former MLA, Vallabhaneni Vamsi Mohan, in the case related to the attack on the Telugu Desam Party’s (TDP’s) office at Gannavaram in February last year.

Vamsi’s personal assistant Raja is among those arrested by the police early on Friday. The arrests were made from Vijayawada Rural, Gannavar, Bapulapadu, Ungutur and other places.

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The former MLA from Gannavaram was also named as an accused in the case. However, the Andhra Pradesh High Court in August directed the police to refrain from taking any coercive action against him.

The YSRCP leader is accused of instigating his supporters to ransack the TDP’s office in his constituency in NTR district in February 2023 when YSRCP was in power.

Vamsi had defected from the TDP to the YSRCP in 2020, and has since been a vociferous critic of the TDP and its National President N. Chandrababu Naidu.

The office of the TDP in Gannavaram was vandalised and cars belonging to the party’s leaders were damaged allegedly by the YSRCP activists and followers of Vamsi. Two cars were also torched by the miscreants. The incident had occurred after TDP and YSRCP activists allegedly clashed over some unsavoury comments made by Vamsi against Chandrababu Naidu and TDP General Secretary Nara Lokesh.

After the TDP-led coalition came to power in June, Vamsi’s house was attacked allegedly by TDP supporters. Vamsi also suffered a defeat from the Gannavaram Assembly constituency.

He was elected from the same seat in 2019 as a TDP candidate but had later defected to the YSRCP. After Chandrababu Naidu became the Chief Minister, a fresh investigation was launched into the cases relating to attacks on TDP offices including the 2021 attack on the party’s central office at Mangalagiri.

A large number of supporters of the YSRCP had allegedly attacked the TDP’s office on October 19, 2021 after TDP spokesperson Kommareddy Pattabhi Ram had made some objectionable comments against the then Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. YSRCP former MLC Nandigama Suresh, MLCs Lella Appi Reddy and Talasila Raghuram, and party leader Devineni Avinash are among those named in the TDP central office attack case.

In October, YSRCP General Secretary and former government advisor Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy was also questioned in the case.