Telangana minister’s convoy attacked during meeting of Reddy community

Hyderabad: Telangana Labour Minister M. Malla Reddy escaped unhurt when his convoy was attacked by participants at a public meeting at Ghatkesar near here, sources said on Monday.

Some participants at the meeting organised on Sunday night by Reddy Jagruthi, an apolitical community platform, hurled footwear, stones and chairs on the convoy of the minister, who had to leave the meeting abruptly.

Police personnel had a tough time escorting the minister to safety and stopping those who were chasing his vehicle.

The minister had to face the ire of some participants at ‘Reddy Simha Garjana’ when he praised Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao for various development and welfare programmes taken up in the state.

They raised an objection to the minister’s praise for the government and shouted slogans. Some of them rushed towards the dais asking him to stop his speech. A Congress leader asked him to stop praising the government and speak on what the government intends to do for the betterment of the community.

Amid the ruckus, Malla Reddy stopped his speech and after order was restored following an appeal by the organisers, the minister resumed his speech. However, as he continued to praise the government, the participants interrupted him and raised slogans against him. This time, they were angry and refused to heed the appeals for calm.

Sensing trouble, the minister’s security personnel and police surrounded him and escorted him off the dais. As his convoy was leaving the venue, several people started throwing footwear, stones and even hurled chairs. Some of them even chased the convoy.

Leaders and workers of various political parties attended the meeting. The Joint Action Committee of Reddys demanded that the chief minister fulfill his poll promise to constitute Reddy commission with Rs 5,000 crore.

Malla Reddy later blamed state Congress chief Revanth Reddy for the attack. The minister said since he had been questioning Revanth Reddy’s misdeeds, he carried out the attack through his supporters. The minister said he was not afraid of such attacks.

The minister said he was interrupted even as he was clarifying that TRS remains committed to fulfill its promise to constitute the Reddy Commission and that justice will be done to Reddys.