Warangal tense as funeral turns violent

WARANGAL: Tension prevailed in Warangal on Sunday during the funeral procession of Bhojya Naik, who committed suicide on Saturday.Students went on a rampage hurling stones at the houses of TDP and Congress leaders and also at the statues of Andhra leaders.Students took out a rally with the body of Naik after the MGM doctors conducted a post mortem examination in the afternoon. Naik poured kerosene and set himself on fire in support of separate Telangana state.Leaders of Telangana Rashtra Samithi, Bharatiya Janata Party, Students JAC, doctors JAC and advocates JAC participated in the funeral procession.At the mortuary, angry students raised slogans against Andhra leaders.They attacked Pradeep Rao, brother of Telangana Telugu Desam Forum convenor E Dayakar Rao, who came to console the kin of Naik.Students chased away Pradeep Rao and his followers and thrashed them.However, with the timely intervention of the police, Pradeep escaped with minor injuries.Later, the youth took out a procession from MGM hospital to Telangana martyrs memorial at Hanamkonda. During the procession, the agitators tried to destroy the statue of Rajiv Gandhi at MGM centre and hurled footwear and stones at it.En route, the agitators threw stones at the house of government chief whip Gandra Venkata Ramana Reddy. Though a number of rapid action force (RAF) police were posted near the house, agitators removed the barbed wire and marched towards the house of the Congress leader The funeral procession on Sunday turned violent with Telangana activists beating up TDP MLA Yerrabelli Dayakara Rao’s brother and throwing stones at the residence of chief whip Gandra Venakta Ramana Reddy and at a hotel belonging to TDP MP G Sudha Rani. The scenes reminded of the days when the Telangana movement was at peak.Telangana Congress MPs, who were hibernating since the sakala janula samme in October last year, went into a huddle at panchayat raj minister K Jana Reddy’s residence on Sunday night and discussed their future in the wake of indications that the Telangana issue might flare up once again.They reportedly expressed anxiety over the prospects of the party in the region and what turn the self-immolation of Bojya Naik would take. The MPs decided to approach the party high command and explain the ground realities.They want to take Telangana ministers and MLAs to Delhi for a wide ranging discussion with the party leadership.Some members were unhappy over Gandra Venkata Ramana Reddy saying there was no Telangana sentiment at present, which the MPs felt had further damaged the party in the region. Later, the MPs who came out from the meeting said they would raise the issue of Bhojya Naik’s self-immolation in Parliament.“We are going to make Bhojya Naik’s suicide an issue in Parliament.We have given enough time to the Centre. The elections to the five states are over. The byelections in Telangana are over. Let the Centre come out with a decision or announce a roadmap for creation of Telangana,” Nalgonda MP Gutta Sukhender Reddy said.Those who attended the meting included MPs Manda Jagannadham, S Rajaiah, G Vivek and P Balram Naik. Already, TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao left for Delhi on Sunday night vowing to raise the Telangana an issue in Parliament.“We will stall the proceedings in Parliament.The Central government does not have eyes and ears. The state government is callous. The chief minister and opposition leader do not have a word of sympathy for Naik. I want youth not to lay down their lives but fight for Telangana.It will be a certainty,” Chandrasekhara Rao said before boarding the flight for Delhi. With the Telangana storm gathering, Kiran Kumar Reddy will now have to fight attacks from three quarters: TRS, dissidents within the party and YS Jagan Mohan Reddy who is already on a mission to win as many seats as possible in the byelections to 18 Assembly seats and lure more Congress MLAs to his side to destabilise the government.According to sources close to the chief minister, Kiran Kumar Reddy is concentrating on Jagan Mohan Reddy and the dissidents as the byelection results are behind him now. He is focused on the next round of byelections.Already enough exercise has gone into the selection of candidates for the bypolls and he wants the party to announce the names early so that the candidates would have enough time to plan campaign. However, with the Telangana issue rising again, the chief minister would have to face flak from Telangana leaders for not being ‘proactive’ on Telangana, the source said.