Date:01/07/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/07/01/stories/2004070115540500.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Naidu had ordered burning of buses: Daggubati

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, JUNE 30. The Congress MLA, Daggubati Venkateswara Rao, on Wednesday accused the TDP president, N. Chandrababu Naidu, of ordering burning of buses during the agitation in 1991 against capitation fee, an allegation his brother-in-law promptly denied.

Addressing a press conference here, Dr. Rao said this episode happened when the then TDP president, N. T. Rama Rao, had supported a bandh call given by 32 student organisations. To everyone's surprise, the bandh was total and there was not single incident of violence in any part of the State. While NTR was happy at the peaceful conclusion of the bandh, Mr. Naidu had insisted that this was not the way an agitation should be conducted. The next day, he asked partymen to burn buses and personally arranged for petrol cans. "I had then opposed it but he was in no mood to listen," Dr. Rao, who was with the TDP then, said.

Mr. Naidu, when asked to comment on the allegation, dismissed it saying he could not even recall the incidents, which Dr. Rao was referring to. "He is making such wild allegations only for the sake of securing a Cabinet berth," he remarked.