ONGOLE: Tension prevailed at Rudramambapuram, a fishermen hamlet under Motupalle panchayat in Chinna Ganjam Mandal of Prakasam district, following the death of a TDP woman activist in the early hours of Tuesday after a clash between TDP and YSRC workers.
According to police, a group of YSRC and TDP activists in the village, which has around 120 houses and dominated by YSRC activists, got into a heated argument in the village square. In no time it escalated into a fist fight.
In the melee, a TDP activist B Padma (32) was allegedly slapped by her rivals. Feeling insulted, she rushed back to her home and hanged herself from the ceiling. Her family members who saw her hanging from the ceiling, informed the police.
Chinna Ganjam police rushed to the village and shifted the body to the Chirala government hospital. Later in the day, the body was handed over to the family after postmortem. Additional forces, including APSP battalion from Ongole, were deployed in the village to prevent any untoward incident.
When contacted by TNIE, Chirala DSP U Nagaraju said that a family dispute has escalated into a group clash, when the political parties intervened and took sides, as the victim happened to be an active member of TDP. “We have registered a case and are investigating,” he said.
TDP leaders condemn attack on activists
Meanwhile, TDP leaders during a meeting organised at party chief N Chandrababu Naidu’s residence on Tuesday, condemned the attacks on TDP activists by YSRC activists. The party delegation led by ex-minister K Ravindra visited Rudramambapuram and interacted with the family members of the victim at the Chirala GGH. TDP MLAs Karanam Balaram, Bala Veeranjaneya Swamy and others consoled the family members and held YSRC responsible for the death of Padma.
Naidu who returned from his foreign trip, condemned the attacks on TDP activists in Prakasam and Guntur districts. He said in less than a month, as many as 120 incidents of attacks on TDP workers took place in the State. He termed it a law and order failure.