Congress workers attack BRS office in Manugur, set furniture on fire

Tension gripped Manugur on Sunday as Congress workers stormed the BRS office, vandalised property, and set furniture on fire. The mob hoisted Congress flags, claiming ownership of the building, while BRS leader Rega Kantha Rao condemned the attack and blamed local Congress leaders.

Kothagudem: Congress workers created a ruckus at Manugur as they attacked the mandal BRS office and set furniture on fire leading to high tension in the town on Sunday.

Nearly 1000 Congress leaders and workers reached the BRS office and beat BRS workers causing two workers to suffer bleeding injuries. The Congress workers tore down the BRS flags, removed the flag post, repainted the walls, hoisted Congress party flags and displayed a flexi banner renaming the office as ‘Indiramma Bhavanam’ replacing the name Telangana Bhagan.

They threw out plastic chairs, almirahs and wooden furniture out of the office building and set them on fire. The locals called firefighters who doused the flames. Though the police arrived at the scene they could not control the Congress mob.

It might be noted that Pinapaka Congress leaders have been claiming ownership of the office building, which was built by the incumbent BRS district president Rega Kantha Rao when he got elected as MLA for the first time in 2009 on Congress ticket. The land was donated for the party office by a Congress worker.

When Kantha Rao joined the BRS in June 2019 after getting elected on Congress ticket in 2018 he changed the office into Telangana Bhavan and since then it was being used as the Pinapaka constituency BRS headquarters. A few years ago the Congress workers staged a protest demanding Kantha Rao to hand over the office building to Congress.

In a statement, Kantha Rao strongly condemned the attack by Congress workers on Telangana Bhavan. It was shameful that the local MLA Payam Venkateswarlu and the three ministers in the district have instigated the Congress workers to attack the BRS party office, he alleged.

He said the Congress leaders were not able to digest the BRS party’s fighting against the injustice being done to the district due to non-release of funds for development and resorted to physical attacks.

Kantha Rao appealed to the BRS workers to stage protests in all mandal headquarters against the attack on the Telangana Bhavan. He was likely to address a media conference on Sunday evening at the party office.