The Hindu : PW bid on TDP MP

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 09, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

PW bid on TDP MP

By Our Staff Reporter

ANANTAPUR, FEB. 8. The Telugu Desam Party MP from Anantapur, Kalava Srinivasulu, the chairman of the District Libraries Organisation and party general secretary, S. Salar Basha, and five others had a providential escape when naxalites belonging to the People's War detonated five directional mines targeting the vehicle in which they were travelling near Kuntimaddi village in Ramagiri Mandal, about 50 km from here, this morning.

While Mr. Srinivasulu and four others escaped unhurt, Mr. Basha and the TDP's Anantapur town president, Adinarayana, suffered splinter injuries.

The group was on its way to attend a mass marriage ceremony organised by a party leader, Paritala Ravindra, at Nasanakota village in Ramagiri Mandal. "We were passing a small hillock on the Ramagiri road at about 8.15 a.m. when the blast occurred shattering the windscreens. However, we sped away and stopped only at the Ramagiri police station, about eight km away from the attack site," Mr. Srinivasulu said. They left the damaged vehicle there and reached Nasanakota in another vehicle.

The directional mines also contained two iron balls, the size of a cricket ball, and iron pellets, but they did not hit the vehicle. While four mines were planted in a heap of gravel and small stones, one more was concealed in another heap. A big stone became a projectile in the impact and hit the vehicle but the passengers were unhurt. It is learnt that passers-by noticed three persons running towards the hillock immediately after the blast.

The Superintendent of Police, Anil Kumar, who visited the blast site along with other officials, said they found a 75-metre-long wire used for igniting the mines. He said the explosives were blasted with the help of a flashlight. The TDP president and Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, spoke to Mr. Srinivasulu and Mr. Ravindra over phone and enquired about the attack and their condition.

TDP condemns attack

Our Special Correspondent reports from Hyderabad:

The TDP said today that the attack was in keeping with the naxalites' goal of targeting persons belonging to the Backward Classes, the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes and minorities.

Speaking to presspersons here, the TDP spokesman, Ummareddy Venkateswarlu, said the attacks came barely a day after naxalites opened fire on the Jammikunta market committee chairman, P. Satyanarayana Rao.

The Orissa and Andhra Pradesh Police today jointly launched a massive combing operation in the border areas to flush out the naxalites, it is learnt.

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