The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Rivalry of decades comes to gory end

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Tuesday, Jan 04, 2011
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Rivalry of decades comes to gory end

Suresh Krishnamoorthy

HYDERABAD: The over three-decade-old rivalry between the families of Telugu Desam MLA Paritala Ravindra and Gangula Suryanarayana Reddy that held faction-ridden Anantapur district to ransom, came to a violent end with the latter's murder here on Monday.

The enmity between the Gangula family and that of Sane on one hand and the Paritala family of Penukonda Assembly segment on the other, is a classic example of factionalism at its worst. It was also marked by caste with Gangula and Sane families belonging to the Reddy community and the Paritalas being Kammas.

The very mention of Maddalacheruvu Suri, as he was known popularly hailing from Maddalacheruvu, a remote village in Anantapur district, brings to mind about a dozen gory instances of people being wiped out, using a plethora of weapons ranging from hunting sickles, country-made bombs, small arms to hi-tech improvised explosive devices.

The violent history that inspired a film ‘Raktha Charitra' by Ramgopal Verma, began with the murder of Paritala Ravindra's father Sriramulu in 1975. This was followed by vicious revenge killing of Suri's father Narayana Reddy in 1983. It was a typical case of gruesome faction killings engineered by leaders making fortunes only to slay their rivals to keep themselves alive.

In the year 1991, Sane Chenna Reddy, MLA and a close associate of Narayana Reddy was killed by naxalites representing Re-Organising Committee, a splinter group of the then People's War Group. Then a bomb placed by Ravi's group in a television set killed Suri's family including his mother, younger brother, sister and her two children.

Takes revenge

Suri took revenge by triggering a car bomb blast in Jubilee Hills here in 1997, one that created a sensation as 26 people including six staffers of a television channel were killed. The target, MLA Paritala Ravindra however escaped with injuries. Suri, who was the prime accused, was sentenced to life and since 1997 was in jail until he was released last year. Even as he was in jail, Suri's name continued to strike terror with his name linked to several instances of violence.

In between, Chenna Reddy's two sons MLA Venkatramana Reddy and Obul Reddy were murdered here. In a meticulously planned attack, Ravi was murdered by Suri's associates on January 24, 2005, as he was coming out of the TDP office in Anantapur town. The brutality of the faction rivalry was showcased masterfully by Verma in ‘Raktha Charitra', released in two parts. The entire movie revolved around Ravi and Suri factions. Interestingly, Suri and over a hundred of his friends and followers watched the film at a special screening in Bangalore in three months ago.

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