The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : End faction killings: Governor

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Saturday, Sep 11, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

End faction killings: Governor

By Our Special Correspondent

The Congress MLAs, led by the Government Chief Whip, G. Kiran Kumar Reddy, submitting a memorandum in connection with the Anantapur killings to the Governor, Surjit Singh Barnala, at Raj Bhavan in Hyderabad on Friday. Photo: P. V. Sivakumar

HYDERABAD, SEPT. 10. The Governor, Surjit Singh Barnala, on Friday urged the State Government to put an end to faction killings in Anantapur while seeking to know whether there could be any political motives to the killings confined to just one district. He received a memorandum from the CLP delegation in this regard.

Cautions Government

His query came in handy for the Congress delegation to rule out political motives behind the murders, as no other district seemed to be affected. If the Congress had sponsored the killings, it should have been a widespread phenomenon, the Congress leaders said. The Governor, however, cautioned that violence could bring disrepute to the Government and the priority of all parties must be to restore peace.

In the memorandum, the CLP members said all those killed had criminal antecedents. The TDP president's demand for protection to criminals only proved that his party sheltered such elements. Mr. Naidu had given tickets to many criminals in the elections, they said.

Congress charge

They pointed out that when the TDP was in power for 17 out of the last 21 years, more than 450 murders had taken place in the region. Mr. Naidu had no compunction in owning up criminals as his partymen. The Governor's attention was also drawn to cases pending against those for whom Mr. Naidu was seeking protection. They said the TDP aided and abetted faction feuds to sustain political power. Anantapur was relatively free from factionism till the emergence of the TDP.

The Congress delegation was led by the Government Chief Whip, N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, and included the MLAs -- B. Narayan Reddy, J. Ramaiah, Sailaja Nath, Ravindra Reddy, B. Vedvyas, G. Muddu Krishna Naidu, D. Sridhar Babu and M. Buddha Prasad.

Earlier, the APCC chief spokesperson, G. Muddu Krishnama Naidu, at a press conference reminded the TDP president that not a single retaliatory murder had taken place after the elimination of Y. S. Raja Reddy, father of Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy. He asked was it was proper on part of Mr. Naidu to allow a Cabinet colleague of his to give shelter to the perpetrators of the crime then and attend a photo session with them.

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