AIADMK-Cong row leads to bandh call in Yanam

PUDUCHERRRY: The outlying region of Yanam saw unrest following a tussle between the AIADMK and Congress. What began as threatening phone call to former Revenue minister and MLA Malladi Krishna Rao snowballed into bandh and dharna on Wednesday.Two platoons of India Reserve Battalion were rushed from the East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh to Yanam as additional reinforcements for maintenance of law and order, said Regional Administrator P Jawahar. The incident began when Malladi Krishna Rao received a phone call on September 21 in New Delhi. The caller threatened him saying that he would be shot or killed by a bomb. Krishna Rao said that the next day he got a similar call from the same number and then again on September 24 while he was in Hyderabad. After returning to Yanam on September 24, he lodged a complaint with the police and provided the mobile number.  The police arrested G Venkateswara Rao the same day and remanded him to judicial custody, Jawahar told Express.  However, the police claimed that during interrogation, the accused said that he was instigated by two persons to make the threatening calls. Thereafter the police arrested M Subba Rao and Kodamuri Hari. Subba Rao claimed that they were activists of Chief minister N Rangasamy’s All India NR Congress. However, the general secretary of AINRC V Bhalan denied that Subba Rao was a party member as the party was yet to establish any unit in Yanam.Following this development, Manjala Sai Kumar, Yanam AIADMK unit head, who contested the Assembly elections unsuccessfully against Krishnan Rao, came out against the police along with Yanam Society for anti-corruption, vigilance and RTI stating that a false case has been foisted on the accused. He also claimed that the accused was a mentally unstable person. They cited instances of the accused making such threatening phone calls to a former MP from Andhra Pradesh and 108 ambulance services recently. Further alleging man-handling of the accused in police station and demanding action against the police, a bandh was called on Wednesday in Yanam by the Yanam Society and the AIADMK.While the organisers of the bandh canvassed for the closure of shops, the Congress urged shopkeepers to keep the shops open.  With heavy deployment of police, finally it was the shopkeepers who took decisions individually.  At the same time the block unit of the Congress led by its president Shirajuddin and other people supporting Krishna Rao staged a dharna in front of the office of the Regional Administrator demanding arrest of Manjala Sai Kumar. However, both the incidents passed off peacefully.The Regional Administrator convened a meeting and impressed upon the Congress to call off the bandh as it was not warranted. Already police have taken action on the complaint byKrishna Rao and it would disturb public peace and normal life, said Jawahar.The Congress has decided to consider the indefinite bandh after consulting the Pradesh Congress Committee. They will, although, go ahead with the Thursday bandh.