Congress cadre ransack ‘BRS office’ in Manuguru; prohibitory orders issued

Tension broke out in the Manuguru town of Bhadradri Kothagudem district on Sunday after a group of local Congress cadre allegedly ransacked the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) mandal office and set ablaze the office furniture, BRS flags and banners.

The irate Congress workers barged into the BRS mandal office, christened as “Telangana Bhavan”, amid sloganeering. They went on a rampage, throwing the office furniture outside before setting it on fire in front of the office building. Holding Congress flags, the party cadre raised slogans claiming ownership over the building.

They quickly hoisted the party flag and renamed the building as “Indiramma Bhavan” by painting the facade of the building with the Congress party colour.

The building has been a bone of contention between the Congress and BRS mandal units for long. Both the parties have been claiming ownership over it.

Congress local leaders have long been alleging that the building was the sole property of the party, as the site was donated by a Congress supporter. The Congress mandal leaders had earlier staged a series of protests during the previous BRS government over the issue.

The Congress mandal unit has accused former Pinapaka MLA Rega Kantha Rao of converting the building into the BRS party office after joining the pink party, a charge vehemently denied by Mr. Kantha Rao, who won on Congress ticket in 2018 and subsequently defected to BRS. He then used the “Congress office” as the BRS office.

A video of the irate mob ‘assaulting’ a person, believed to be a worker in the BRS office, has gone viral on social media.

BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao and former minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar strongly condemned the incident calling it as an act of “gundagiri.” The ruling Congress party is resorting to vendetta politics, having realised its imminent defeat in the ensuing Jubilee Hills byelection, he said.

Meanwhile, prohibitory orders have been issued by the authorities concerned under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) in Manuguru to prevent any untoward incidents, ensure public safety and maintenance of peace in the town until further orders.