Naidu's remarks touch off furore

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, AUG. 29. The Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, on Tuesday asserted in the Assembly that some of the Congress MLAs directed the burning down of an APSRTC bus near Old MLA quarters last evening, sparking angry protests from the latter.

Intervening in the discussion on Monday's violent incidents in Hyderabad, the Chief Minister charged the Congress with bringing rowdy and criminal elements for the rally and a proof of that was Vengala Balaswamy who was killed in police firing. A rowdy sheet had been opened at a police station in Sathenapalli against Balaswamy and a number of cases including murder and attempt to murder were pending against him.

``You compared him to the freedom fighter Prakasam Panthulu for baring his chest to police, but he turned out to be a rowdy sheeter,'' he said referring to the way the Opposition leader, Dr. Y. S. Rajaeshekar Reddy, compared the action of the youth to that of Prakasam Panthulu. All this while the Congress members kept up their protests, twice storming to the well of the House.

Mr. Naidu went on to charge the Leader of the Opposition with provoking people to resort to direct action and Congress workers to go on the rampage. A direct offshoot of this was the violence today. Buses were damaged in Kakinada (2), Nellore (4), Anantapur (4), Cuddapah (6), Vijaywada (one) and Pulivendula (2) in which Dr. Rajasekhara Reddy's relatives were involved. These were in addition to 60 buses damaged on Monday. In Anantapur about 100 Congress workers led by a municipal corporator raided the Agriculture Research Station, destroyed its furniture and a jeep. `And they still claim they are running the agitation on Gandhian lines,'' he said.

``I thought the Leader of the Opposition would appeal to his party workers to desist from resorting to violence and destruction of public property. But unfortunately he is not doing it. People themselves will teach them a lesson. They want to politicise everything, resort to violence and create chaos in the State. We will deal with it sternly,'' he added.

Refuting the allegations, Dr. Reddy denied that his party colleagues were behind the burning down of the APSRTC bus at Old MLA Quarters and that he had asked the people or party workers to indulge in violence and destroy public property. He challenged the Government, if it was so sure, to book a case against Congress MLAs allegedly involved in torching the bus.

He reminded the treasury benches that thousands of buses were damaged when NTR was unseated in August 1984 and the way their leaders welcomed Srisailam Yadav, a rowdy sheeter in city, into their party fold. In another incident in Chittoor, the Chief Minister's brother, N. Ramamurthy Naidu was involved.

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