KAKINADA: For the family of Janepalli Srinivasa Rao, the attack on YSRC president YS Jaganmohan Reddy at Visakhapatnam International Airport on Thursday afternoon came as a shocker. Not just the attacker, the entire family are supporters of YSRC and its leader Jagan.
“We cannot believe that he did this,” Srinivasa Rao’s elder brother Subba Raju told media. Subba Raju also said that his brother’s character was not violent, rather he kept away from it.
The attacker was a staunch supporter of YSRC and even minced no words in expressed his dissatisfaction when the YSRC failed to come to power in 2014 elections.
Even on a recent occasion, the attacker had erected banners with his photograph and Jagan in the village.
Srinivasa Rao’s parents, Savithri and Tata Rao, are shocked over the development. “He is an ardent fan of Jagan. For any party programme or a festival, he didn’t miss out erecting a banner in the village,’’ they said. “We are not sure what happened and why he did it,’’ his mother, Savithri said, adding that after the incident their family has become the cynosure of all eyes not just in the village, but the entire State. Meanwhile, after the attack, the village and house of Srinivasa Rao was abuzz with activity.
The district police visited the attacker’s house and made detailed inquiries about his whereabouts. Srinivasa Rao has four elder brothers and a sister. Srinivas’s second brother is a BSF constable, the third brother is an agriculture labour, while the fourth went to Dubai for a livelihood. His lone sister is married.
In fact, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu played down the attack saying that it is a drama where the attacker is not just a staunch follower of Jagan but is very critical of him (Naidu) in the letter that the police found from Rao.