In a fresh incident of political rivalry, TDP activists grievously attacked a Congress leader and his family with knives and axes at Kottaburuju village in Dhone on Wednesday. According to Dhone CI Degala Prasad, village president Ranganatha Reddy (Congress) and TDP leader Emamisa Saheb have political rivalry for some years
now and both the parties frequently used to involve in clashes. On Wednesday, the TDP men hatched a plot to kill all the family members of Reddy. As part of it, they stabbed his wife Lakshmi Devi and father Chowda Reddy at
their residence with axes and knives and fled away thinking they were dead. Even as the locals tried to inform Reddy, who left for the neighbouring Pyapili village over phone about the onslaught, the TDP men decided to kill him. They interrupted Reddy on the outskirts while he was on his way on a motorcycle and attacked him with deadly weapons. However, they fled the scene as Reddy managed to escape and ran to safety in the village. Meanwhile, the locals shifted Lakshmi Devi, Chowda Reddy and Ranganatha Reddy to Dhone Government Hospital where doctors said their condition was critical. Reddy has two daughters and a son. The Dhone police are investigating based on the complaint lodged by Reddy’s family. Police pickets were posted in the village to avert any untoward incident.