Date:12/09/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/09/12/stories/2005091217250100.htm

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Rebel candidate obstructs Koneru's campaign vehicle

Staff Reporter

Police enter the scene to defuse the situation

VIJAYAWADA: Rebel trouble continued to haunt the Congress-Left combine on Sunday when the campaign vehicle of Minister for Municipal Administration Koneru Ranga Rao was obstructed by Congress rebel candidate Manti Koteswara Rao and his supporters at Vidyadharapuram in the 26th division of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC).

Mr. Koteswara Rao represented the 2nd division (SC reserved) in the erstwhile VMC as a corporator. After the delimitation, the 2nd division was changed as 26th division, which was de-reserved.

Accompanied by Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal, UDA chairman Malladi Vishnu, city Congress committee president Pyla Sominaidu, CPI city secretary K. Sekhar Babu and others, the Minister set out in an open top vehicle to canvass in support of Congress contenders from various divisions.

Slogan-shouting

Soon after the vehicle reached the Naalugu Sthambaalu Centre at Vidyadharapuram, Mr. Koteswara Rao, accompanied by a handful of his supporters holding black flags, blocked the way for the Minister's convoy and raised slogans against the Congress MP.

The police reacted swiftly and pushed behind the slogan-shouting members making way for the Minister's vehicle. Congress candidate from the 26th division Yalakala Chalapathi Rao, backed by the Left parties, is facing a rough weather, especially due to angry outbursts of the rebel candidate. Enraged by the denial of the official approval to contest the elections as a Congress candidate, Mr. Koteswara Rao went ahead and filed his nomination as an independent candidate.

Ever since, he has been threatening the party's official candidate Mr. Chalapathi Rao with dire consequences, if the latter tried to set his foot in the division during the campaign trail. Yet another trouble awaited the Congress convoy at the 51st division where the party's rebel candidate, Sunder Paul, who is contesting as an independent, tried to disrupt the canvassing. Apprehensive of trouble, the Congress leadership went round the area in full strength.