Hyderabad, October 24: Chaos reigned at the Telangana martyrs’ memorial meeting organised by the Telangana Congress public representatives at Mahabubnagar this evening. Some party activists, believed to be followers of the late chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy and Kadapa MP Jagan Mohan Reddy, took objection to the absence of YSR’s photo on the posters for the meeting and disrupted the proceedings. They even hurled chairs at the dais.
Taking strong exception to their unruly behaviour, senior Congress leader V Hanumanth Rao demanded stern action against them.
Fissures between the pro and anti-Jagan camps came into open at the Mahabubnagar meeting, the third in the series. The meetings were earlier held at Karimnagar on October 2 and Mancherial in Adilabad on October 10 to extend financial assistance of Rs 1 lakh each to the families of the martyrs who had sacrificed their lives for Telangana cause. Venting anger at the organisers for failing to display the late YSR’s photo on the stage, the enraged activists, believed to be Jagan followers, also tried to obstruct the speeches of MPs K Keshava Rao and V Hanumanth Rao on the ground that the leaders had made ‘objectionable remarks’ against YSR and Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Annoyed at their behaviour, Hanumanth Rao took on them. However, police intervened and averted any untoward incident. “It is an insult to Telangana leaders. The government has to take stern action against those who disrupted the meeting,” he demanded.
Earlier in the day, Telangana Congress leaders, including ministers P Sabita Reddy, D Sridhar Babu and J Krishna Rao and MPs K Keshava Rao, V Hanumanth Rao, M Jagannadham and G Sukhender Reddy, MLAs K Jana Reddy and Rajeshwar Reddy, addressed meetings at Shadnagar, Jadcherla and other places enroute to Mahabubnagar.
–Agencies