Police lathicharges Congress cadre fighting during CM’s visit to Siddipet

The cadre tore the flexes put up by Srikanth Rao, which had huge portraits of Revanth Reddy.

Siddipet: In a major embarrassment to the Congress party and Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, two factions of Congress cadre came to blows during Revanth Reddy’s visit to Gajwel constituency on Monday.

When the police denied entry to followers of former Gajwel MLA Tumukunta Narsa Reddy into the Coca Cola factory which the Chief Minister inaugurated, the party workers created a ruckus. They raised slogans supporting their leader and against his rival Bhandaru Srikantha Rao, who leads another Congress faction in the constituency.

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The cadre tore the flexes put up by Srikanth Rao, which had huge portraits of Revanth Reddy. Unable to control the cadre, the police resorted to lathi charge and chased them away. The incident created a ruckus during the Chief Minister’s visit. When Revanth Reddy came to know about the incident, he called Narsa Reddy inside the factory and enquired about the incident.

Commissioner of Police Dr B Anuradha herself came out and accompanied Narsa Reddy to the Chief Minister, where he alleged that he was ill-treated. When Srikanth Rao along with his followers arrived at the meeting place, Rao’s followers were allowed inside. However, the police denied entry to Narsa Reddy’s followers which caused the incident. The differences between these two factions have been simmering for quite a long time in the Constituency.

They took a serious turn during the Chief Minister’s visit as both leaders tried to show their strength. While Narsa Reddy contested on a Congress ticket in a losing cause from Gajwel constituency in 2023, Srikanth Rao was a strong contender for the post but did not get the ticket.