Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

Sparks fly at Praja Patham programme

Photo: Raju V.

TENSE MOMENTS:MLA Malladi Vishnu arguing with CPI (M) city secretay R. Raghu at the Praja Patham programme in Vijayawada on Tuesday. —

VIJAYAWADA: A wordy duel between Vijayawada Central MLA Malladi Vishnu and the activists of Left parties plunged the ‘Praja Patham' programme held in the 43 {+r} {+d} division of the city into chaos on Tuesday. The arguments led to a scuffle between the activists of the Congress and the Left parties, forcing the police to intervene and separate the warring groups.

Mr. Vishnu, accompanied by Mayor M.V. Ratna Bindu, local corporator Veeramachaneni Lalitha and others, reached T. Venkateswara Rao Municipal Corporation High School at Durgapuram to participate in the programme intended to know people's problems.

As soon as the programme got off to a start, activists of the CPI (M) and the AIYF, led by its leaders R. Raghu and N. Sambasiva Rao respectively, reached the spot and raised slogans alleging that there was no development in the city.

With Mr. Vishnu taking strong objection, Mr. Raghu entered into a wordy duel with him. This quickly degenerated into pushing and shoving.

Finding fault with the leaders of the Left parties, Ms. Lalitha sought to know why the programme should be disturbed when “there is no dearth of development in the division.”

“I request you to name the works that you want us to take up. You are getting the works done on one hand and interrupting the programmes on the other. Is it fair on your part?” she asked.

Mr. Vishnu and Ms. Ratna Bindu maintained that overall development was the sole objective of the government and the Praja Patham programme was aimed to identifying the pending works. At the Praja Patham programme held at Moghalrajapuram, Animal Husbandry Minister K. Parthasarathy said that a household survey would be conducted to identify the beneficiaries of pension scheme and to distribute ration cards to the eligible.

He announced that no single ration card would be cancelled without valid reason.

Ration cards

MLC Jalli Wilson stressed the need for allaying fears among the public about the removal of ration cards. Joint Collector Gaurav Uppal and other officials were present. At the Praja Patham programme held in 7 {+t} {+h}, 17 {+t} {+h}, 18 {+t} {+h} and 19 {+t} {+h} divisions, Mr. Parthasarathy along with MLA Yelamanchili Ravi, MLCs Ilapuram Venkaiah and Jalli Wilson were present. In 26 {+t} {+h} division, MLA Vellampalli Srinivasa Rao received complaints from the public about roads and streetlights.

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