The Hindu : Front Page : Congressmen come to blows

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Sunday, Sep 04, 2005

Front Page

Front Page

Congressmen come to blows

Staff Reporter

Party ticket aspirants go berserk; Vijayawada MP gheraoed

VIJAYAWADA: It was free-for-all at Andhra Ratna Bhavan, the city Congress office, here, on Saturday with party workers coming to blows. Jostling, whisking, chasing, and beating were witnessed for more than half an hour. Amidst chaos, senior leaders, including MLAs and an MP, had to leave the premises in search of another venue to continue the process of selection of party nominees for the municipal elections.

The aspirants who got wind of their exclusion from the list of nominees being forwarded to the APCC went berserk. Irate aspirants had wordy duels with coordination committee members. Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal bore the brunt. They gheraoed him and blocked his way.

Trouble broke out as soon as Vijayawada East MLA Vangaveeti Radhakrishna and Kankipadu MLA Devineni Rajasekhar (Nehru) arrived at Andhra Ratna Bhavan for the final sitting of the coordination committee along with the MP.

Mr. Rajagopal had reportedly finalised the candidates for all the 59 divisions sitting with the leaders of different groups at his residence in the morning itself. This list was to be, however, ratified by all members of the coordination committee.

Heated argument

A few party workers picked up a heated argument with Mr. Radhakrishna and asked him as to how the name of a former CPI (M) corporator Korada Vijaya Kumar (for 23rd division) figured in the list. As tempers ran high, Mr. Rajagopal physically pushed them out of the meeting hall.

Meanwhile, word about the brawl reached the MLA's followers there. Enraged by this, they grabbed Korada Ashok, who shouted at the MLA, and gave him a thorough bashing. Even as Ashok went running down the stairs, he was chased by the MLA's followers and given another round of blows. Demonstrating their muscle power, they roughed him up once again before hounding him onto the road.

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