Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

It is a rebirth for us, says Naidu

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD Oct. 3. The Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, described his narrow escape from the assassination bid by suspected naxalites on the Tirumala ghat road on Wednesday as a rebirth for him and all those travelling in the car.

Mr. Naidu said, "If you look at the blast, it is difficult to believe that any one could have come out alive. Hence, I consider it as a rebirth for me and rededicate my life to the service of people.'' Making a statement to the media, the first after the attack on him, Mr. Naidu said all those who were accompanying him — the Information Technology Minister, B. Gopalakrishna Reddy, the Tirupati MLA, Chadalavada Krishna Murthy, the Puttur MLA, R. Rajasekhar Reddy, and the driver had been in great danger. Even now, Mr. Rajasekhar Reddy was receiving intensive treatment from doctors brought from Bangalore.

Mr. Naidu said that if one were to go into the details of the blast, there was no doubt that all of them had a providential escape. "We are alive today due to the good wishes of people, the benign blessings of Lord Venkateswara and the prayers offered in temples, masjids, churches and gurudwaras. Besides, I have been working day and night for the welfare of the people, for eradicating poverty and for the all round development of the State.''

The Chief Minister expressed gratitude to people and leaders from not only Andhra Pradesh but from other parts of the country for expressing their sympathies. He mentioned in particular, the President, the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the AICC president, Sonia Gandhi, besides the President of Germany and the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka for conveying their good wishes.

Mr. Naidu said it was unfortunate that the incident had occurred when the State was suffering from drought. However, the people had reacted as if something untoward had happened to one of their own family members. He thanked the leaders and workers of the TDP and all other political parties for expressing solidarity in condemning the incident.

SP suspended, Collector shifted

Heads rolled, though belatedly, as a direct consequence of the attack. The Superintendent of Police, Chittoor, T. Naveenchand, has been put under suspension while the Collector, Saiprasad, and the DIG of Police, Anantapur range, A. V. Narayana, have been shifted. Action in respect of the Collector and the DIG was taken for their "complicity" in failing to take steps to prevent such events. In another major decision, the Government decided to constitute a Special Investigation Team headed by the Additional Commissioner (Traffic), D.T Naik, to probe all aspects of the bomb blast. Mr. Naik, who would be stationed in Tirupati, has been asked to pin down the culprits. The Reserve Inspector, Ramanaiah, who was in-charge of bomb disposal operations in TTD was also suspended.

Decisions to this effect were taken at a meeting of the group of Ministers attended by, among others, T. Devender Goud, Y. Ramakrishnudu, K. Vidyadhara Rao, N. Janardhan Reddy, K. Srihari and S. Chandramohan Reddy. The meeting was held at the Chief Minister's Jubilee Hills residence and Mr. Naidu was informed about them, according to Mr. Devender Goud.

The action is also indicative of the Government's response to the `pent-up anger' among some of the Ministers as also important functionaries of the Telugu Desam that hardly any action has been taken so far in a case involving no less than the Chief Minister himself. Briefing reporters about the decision later in the evening, the Home Minister said that after a thorough review with the Chief Secretary and the Director-General of Police, the Government decided to appoint a Commission of Enquiry headed by the former Uttar Pradesh DGP and the DGP of the BSF, Prakash Singh, to study the existing security system for the Chief Minister and point out lapses, if any.

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