Andhra Pradesh - Ongole   

NRLEGP wages controversy takes violent turn

ONGOLE : Rice rich Karamchedu hit the headlines again with the Congress and TDP girding their loins to settle political scores. The controversy over payment of wages to workers under NRLEGP, brewing in the village for the last 20 days, acquired political overtones and turned violent on Monday.

Karamchedu, which lies at the tail-end of Krishna Western delta, is known for its riches. It has connections with the glamourous tinsel world through film producer, D Rama Naidu, who was born there and N.T. Rama Rao and Akkineni Nageswara Rao, who chose spouses for their kin from the village. It acquired political connections also with Daggubati Venkateswara Rao, son-in-law of NTR entering politics to become MLA and minister. He later joined the Congress which made his wife, Purandeswari as Union Minister.

The village drew national attention when Kamma landlords attacked Dalits killling six of them in 1985 which gave uprise to dalit awareness.

It shot into limelight when cine actor, N. Balakrishna, made a vitriolic campaign in the village during Assembly elections. Addressing a meeting few feet away from the residence of his brother-in-law, Dr Venkateswara Rao, he twirled his moustache to regale TDP workers in the village. In the elections, the TDP got 450 votes more than Congress candidate, Dr. Venkateswara Rao in the village. Though Dr Venkateswara Rao won the election, he could not stomach his poor performance in his own village. He held the sarpanch responsible for this.

In this background, the TDP leaders found discrepancies in payment of wages under NRLEGP. While some workers were paid Rs. 80, others got Rs. 120. The sarpanch and other TDP leaders hauled up the officials who admitted mistakes in measurements and promised to correct them on June 23. Later, they went to Dr Venkateswara Rao to question him on this and a woman made some obscene comments against him. On the next day, the technical assistant, who belonged to Scheduled Castes, lodged a complaint against sarpanch and 10 others for abusing him and a case was registered under SC, ST Atrocities (Prevention) Act.

The sarpanch and others alleged that it was the handiwork of Dr. Venkateswara Rao. They went to Hyderabad to get anticipatory bail from High Court. They also met TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu, and represented the issue to him. As they returned to Karamchedu, police arrested the sarpanch and he was remanded to judicial custody.

The TDP appointed a team with two MLAs and two MLCs to probe into the wage controversy. The team came to Karamchedu for inquiry on Monday. The Congress workers targeted one of the team members, Nannapaneni Rajakumari. They jeered and heckled her as "Chepala pulusu". Following an altercation, they pushed and pulled her and dragged her over some distance holding her tuft leaving her badly bruised and mauled.

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