Telangana: Suryapet on the boil as clashes mar Bandi Sanjay’s visit

HYDERABAD: A day after BJP state president Bandi Sanjay’s convoy came under attack during his visit to paddy procuremnt centres in Nalgonda and Suryapet, the situation turned worse on Tuesday with police forced to resort to a mild lathicharge to disperse warring TRS and BJP activists in Suryapet district.
In the melee, a police officer suffered a heart attack and was rushed to hospital.
It all started in Chivvemla village, where Sanjay first went to meet farmers and talk to them about the procurement of paddy. While TRS activists raised slogans against Sanjay, BJP activists too arrived at the spot and both clashed with sticks, prompting police to resort to mild lathicharge.
Later, when Sanjay arrived in Atmakur mandal, the TRS activists followed him there too.
While TRS and BJP supporters gathered in large numbers at the procurement centre, they attempted to outwit each other, when a reserve police inspector Srinivas suffered a heart attack and was immediately rushed to a hospital in Suryapet.
Sanjay could meet a handful of farmers and attempted to pacify the angry BJP activists. Speaking about the incident, Nalgonda SP A Venkata Ranganath said the BJP chief did not have a permission for his visit, and it is also not permissible due to the enforcement of election code. “We have booked cases against him and other BJP leaders for the same reasons, we booked cases against activists of both parties,” he said.
Security was tightened in border areas of Nalgonda and Suryapet, and several BJP leaders were arrested before they arrived at the locations where Sanjay was speaking to farmers.
Later in the evening, Sanjay cancelled his journey to the Jangaon district since police refused to give him permission due to clashes between TRS and BJP activists. TRS supporters arrived from Tirumalagiri in Suryapet to Jangaon. Sanjay had scheduled a district party meeting in Jangaon.