Anantapur, October 12: Faction feuds flared up once again in the district with rivals attacking two Telugu Desam leaders in broad daylight near the busy Srikantam Circle here this evening.
Of the two, one died on the spot and the other is battling for life in the government hospital. The victims were identified as Raghunath Reddy (45) of Reddipalle vilage in Peddapappur mandal in Tadipatri Assembly constituency and Chandrasekhara Reddy (43) of Seetharamapuram village in Tadipatri Rural mandal in the same constituency. Both were close followers of Tadipatri TDP leader Peram Nagireddy.
Chandrasekhar and Raghunath came here on an errand and went to a hotel near Srikantam Circle. Their rivals, suspected to be Niranjan Reddy and his five followers, waylaid the TDP leaders and attacked them with hunting sickles. People in the area were frightened and ran helter-skelter. Shutters of all the shops in the area were immediately downed. By the time police arrived on the scene the attackers had escaped by an autorickshaw, leaving their weapons behind. An intense search operation was launched to nab the attackers. All the check-posts were put on alert and every vehicle was being searched.
According to the police, Congress leader Nallapa Reddy from Uppapalpadu village in Peddapapur mandal had been murdered four months ago by his rivals who hit him with a tractor. Raghunath Reddy and Chandrasekhar Reddy were accused in that murder case. It is suspected that Nallapa Reddy’s son Niranjan Reddy and his followers attacked Raghunath Reddy and Chandrasekhar Reddy today to take revenge.
One Town police registered a case and launched investigation. Security has been beefed up in Anantapur and Tadipatri.
—-Agencies