NELLORE: In an incident that could further widen the gap between the former allies, BJP and TDP, a man hurled a slipper at BJP state president Kanna Lakshminarayana in Kavali town of the district on Wednesday leading to tension. The attacker was thrashed and handed over to police. Reacting to this, BJP leaders blamed the TDP and, in particular, a State cabinet minister, for the incident.
Lakshminarayana was participating in a rally in Kavali as part of his two-day tour of the district on Wednesday evening when the assailant, identified as Gorrepati Umamaheswara Rao from Tanguturu of Prakasam district, hurled his footwear at the BJP leader while shouting ‘Modi down down’. Luckily for Lakshminarayana, the flying footwear went past him and landed on a vehicle.
BJP activists immediately caught hold of Umamaheswara Rao and thrashed him badly even as police tried to come to the latter’s rescue.Later, Umamaheswara Rao told media that he was angry with Prime Minister Narenda Modi for his ‘indifferent’ attitude towards Andhra Pradesh and took it out on the State BJP president.
Reacting to the incident, Lakshminarayana alleged that the attacker was sent by a State minister. He, however, declined to name the minister. “Since we are exposing the TDP by bringing out facts and figures with respect to Centre’s assistance to the State, the TDP is deliberately attacking us out of insecurity,’’ he said. Lakshminarayana also alleged that the TDP government was not giving him security.During the recent visit of Lakshminarayana to Anantapur, TDP workers tried to force their way into the press meet venue of the BJP leader.