Gandhi Bhavan turns into a battleground

HYDERABAD: It was free-for-all at Gandhi Bhavan here on Sunday with Telangana and Seemandhra Youth Congress workers hurling chairs at each other.The occasion was the meeting of Andhra Pradesh Youth Congress to discuss the membership drive in the state.As soon as the meeting began, at around 12.15 p.m Youth Congress workers from Telangana region demanded that the drive be postponed till the Centre announces its decision on separate statehood.They told the national leader - AIYC incharge Meenakshi Natarajan and AIYC president Rajiv Satav that they were not in a position to go to the people due to the party’s stand on Telangana.They urged that the membership drive be either postponed till Centre’s announcement or at least for the next three months.They also demanded that a separate T Youth Congress wing be formed.However, these remarks angered the Seemandhra region leaders.Incidentally, AP Youth Congress president Sudhakar Babu, who hails from Guntur district, took serious objection to the remarks made by Telangana workers.He insisted that the membership drive be taken up in the state, including Telangana.This triggered a serious verbal clash between the two groups.Consequently, both the groups hurled chairs at each other.In a matter of seconds, the venue turned into a battle field.First they threw chairs at each other, before indulging in a fierce fist fight amidst slogans of ‘Jai Telangana’ and ‘Jai Samaikhya Andhra’.None of them suffered serious injuries.Later, additional police forces reached Gandhi Bhavan and tried to control Congress workers.Rajiv Satav, however, ruled out the possibility of forming a separate youth wing for Telangana.He later formally launched the membership drive in the state