TDP, BJP workers clash in Guntur

Vijayawada, Jan 5 (IANS) Workers of Andhra Pradesh's ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) clashed in Guntur town on Saturday.

A day after BJP workers blocked the convoy of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu in Kakinada, TDP workers staged a sit-in outside the residence of BJP state unit President Kanna Laxminarayana in Guntur.

BJP leaders and workers tried to resist the protestors, leading to tension. The two groups entered into a heated argument and raised slogans. They jostled with each other.

Police had to intervene and forcibly separate the protestors to calm the situation.

Laxminarayana condemned the TDP protest in front of his house. He alleged that TDP activists had come to kill him.

The BJP leader said law and order had collapsed in the state. He alleged that Chandrababu Naidu behaved rudely with BJP workers who had gone to submit a memorandum to him in Kakinada. He said the TDP chief threatened to finish the leaders including women corporators.

He also claimed that wherever Naidu was going, police were arresting BJP workers. He said the party would complain to the Union Home Minister and Governor about the highhanded attitude of the state government.

Tension has been rising between the two parties ever since TDP pulled out of BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in March last year over the Centre not fulfilling the promises made to Andhra Pradesh at the time of State's bifurcation.

Accusing TDP government of corruption, Prime Minister NarendraA Modi during a video-conference with BJP workers on Wednesday asked them to ask the state government as to where the funds released by the Centre had gone.