SANGAREDDY: As expected Rachchabanda has created a rift among Telangana leaders with a defiant Congress leadership refusing to get cowed down to the TRS threats of disrupting the programme in the Telangana region.
Local Congress MLA Toorpu Jayaprakash Reddy alias Jaggareddy put up a defiant show in Medak district by thwarting TRS leader K Chanrasekhar Rao's purported tour to Sadasivpet till late in the afternoon on Monday. Before he was forcibly arrested by the cops, Congress succeeded in sending a message to the KCR camp that TRS would not have a free hand in subverting the Rachchabanda programme and appropriate for itself the championship of Telangana movement.
The party also ensured that the mass contact programme was conducted without any disruptions in Sangareddy constituency.
Jaggareddy insisted that he would not allow KCR to proceed to Sadasivpet where a TDP defector was to join the TRS later in the evening. That Jaggareddy was instrumental in blocking the TRS chief's tour plans became evident early in the morning when his followers burnt two Sumos at Kandinagar crossroads on National Highway-9. Traffic came to a halt and vehicles were stranded up to four km with thousands of his followers and Congress workers staging sit-ins at several places on the highway.
The followers of Jaggareddy tore flexi banners of KCR at Patancheru and Sangareddy and later burnt an effigy of the TRS chief. Jaggareddy himself sat on the highway till afternoon holding placards that said `KCR go back.' He refused to budge despite police pleading with him to make way for the traffic to move. Jaggareddy's followers even conducted `Vanta-varpu' (mass cooking) programmes on the main road.
Amidst the slogan-shouting and jostling, he was bundled into a police jeep while hundreds of his followers were taken away in vans.
Though some TRS supporters tried to disrupt the programme, they beat a hasty retreat as Jaggareddy followers stood guard. "We will not take law into our hands. We will register our protest against KCR's visit by staging rasta rokos. We will not even throw tomatoes or eggs on his convoy," Jaggareddy claimed. He said Rachchabanda programme was a success and largesse such as pensions and ration cards were distributed to the beneficiaries in his constituency. "This is only a first warning to KCR. We would occupy the entire Telangana Bhavan in Hyderabad if it comes to that," he warned before being taken away by the cops.
KCR was forced to postpone his tour by a few hours and reached Sadasivpet late in the evening. He held a meeting where TDP defector Chinta Prabhakar was admitted into TRS. In the meantime, firebrand actress and Medak MP Vijayashanti also indulged in theatrics by challenging "Jaggareddy or any other Congress leader to stop her from moving about in her constituency.''
Local Congress MLA Toorpu Jayaprakash Reddy alias Jaggareddy put up a defiant show in Medak district by thwarting TRS leader K Chanrasekhar Rao's purported tour to Sadasivpet till late in the afternoon on Monday. Before he was forcibly arrested by the cops, Congress succeeded in sending a message to the KCR camp that TRS would not have a free hand in subverting the Rachchabanda programme and appropriate for itself the championship of Telangana movement.
The party also ensured that the mass contact programme was conducted without any disruptions in Sangareddy constituency.
Jaggareddy insisted that he would not allow KCR to proceed to Sadasivpet where a TDP defector was to join the TRS later in the evening. That Jaggareddy was instrumental in blocking the TRS chief's tour plans became evident early in the morning when his followers burnt two Sumos at Kandinagar crossroads on National Highway-9. Traffic came to a halt and vehicles were stranded up to four km with thousands of his followers and Congress workers staging sit-ins at several places on the highway.
The followers of Jaggareddy tore flexi banners of KCR at Patancheru and Sangareddy and later burnt an effigy of the TRS chief. Jaggareddy himself sat on the highway till afternoon holding placards that said `KCR go back.' He refused to budge despite police pleading with him to make way for the traffic to move. Jaggareddy's followers even conducted `Vanta-varpu' (mass cooking) programmes on the main road.
Amidst the slogan-shouting and jostling, he was bundled into a police jeep while hundreds of his followers were taken away in vans.
Though some TRS supporters tried to disrupt the programme, they beat a hasty retreat as Jaggareddy followers stood guard. "We will not take law into our hands. We will register our protest against KCR's visit by staging rasta rokos. We will not even throw tomatoes or eggs on his convoy," Jaggareddy claimed. He said Rachchabanda programme was a success and largesse such as pensions and ration cards were distributed to the beneficiaries in his constituency. "This is only a first warning to KCR. We would occupy the entire Telangana Bhavan in Hyderabad if it comes to that," he warned before being taken away by the cops.
KCR was forced to postpone his tour by a few hours and reached Sadasivpet late in the evening. He held a meeting where TDP defector Chinta Prabhakar was admitted into TRS. In the meantime, firebrand actress and Medak MP Vijayashanti also indulged in theatrics by challenging "Jaggareddy or any other Congress leader to stop her from moving about in her constituency.''
