Video: Congress workers' hostile takeover of BRS office, furniture torched

Tension gripped Manuguru in Telangana’s Khammam district on Sunday after workers from the ruling Congress attacked the local BRS office, vandalised furniture and set items ablaze in a dispute over control of the premises.

Videos shared by BRS supporters on social media showed people carrying Congress flags storming into the party office, chanting slogans and engaging in scuffles. Thick smoke and flames were visible as furniture burned, and the Congress flag was hoisted atop the building.

Some videos appeared to show Congress workers and BRS cadres exchanging blows; a few people were injured in the clashes, BRS members claimed on X. Police have yet to confirm the number of casualties.

In a post on X, the BRS hit out at Congress, accusing the ruling party of violent behaviour and attacked Congress for alleged suppression of its workers.

“Congress means oppression and restrictions. Congress sycophants hold the Constitution in one hand and murder constitutional values with the other. If you try to suppress the people with such rowdyism and thuggery, the day will come when the people themselves will hang your Congress leaders,” the post said.

Congress leaders claimed their action was in response to the forcible takeover of their office during the previous BRS government. They alleged that the then-MLA, with police protection, had seized the Congress office and painted it in the BRS’s pink colour.

On Sunday morning, Congress cadres staged a protest and demanded the return of the premises, shouting, “We want our office back.”

Police and the fire brigade rushed to the scene and brought the situation under control, and security forces were deployed to prevent further clashes.

BRS leader Rakesh Reddy Anugula said the incident laid bare the Congress’s “reign of terror” and claimed that the “goons” who led the attack had backing from “government bigwigs”.

“If this attack truly did not happen under the government's watch, the Congress leaders who participated in the attack should be arrested immediately, a case should be registered, and they should be thrown in jail,” Anugula said on X.

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