WARANGAL: While voting for the graduate MLC council seat has been peaceful in most of the erstwhile Warangal district, there have been reports of clashes between TRS and BJP leaders in Bhupalpally and Mahbubabad districts.
TRS leaders allegedly attacked BJP MLC candidate G. Premender Reddy and Girijana Morch leader Hussain Naik in Nellikuduru of Mahbubabad district. Both the TRS and BJP groups clashed near a polling booth. Police managed to disperse them.
BJP leaders later sat on dharna demanding action against TRS leaders. Saffron party candidate Premender said he and some party workers went to a function hall in Nellikuduru following information that ruling party leaders were distributing money to influence voters.
“We red-handedly caught them distributing money. But they attacked us and destroyed our cameras and phones with which we filmed them. These attacks have the backing of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who is desperate to win this election,” Premender remarked.
However, panchayat raj minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao maintained that it was the BJP leaders who started the fight. “The BJP leaders were actually going inside a polling booth with party scarves. Our party workers told them that it is against the election code, which led to a scuffle. Police must investigate and take unbiased action against those responsible for the unrest,” the minister maintained.
In another incident, CPI and TRS activists clashed in Mahbubabad over leaders of ruling party allegedly distributing money to win voters.
Telangana Jana Samithi candidate Prof. M. Kodandaram said the practice of influencing voters with money should be avoided. He said TRS showering money to turn voters in its favour is a sign of its weakness. “They are resorting to such measures because they are on the back foot. We will file complaints with the Election Commission in Delhi on this issue,” Kodandaram added.
