Internal squabbles come to fore in YSRCP over demolition of shop

Nellore: With ruling party leaders backed two sides of an issue in the district headquarters, the police had a tough time to manage law and order in the district. It may be recalled that a tribal family encroached on a piece of land on the mini bypass road owned by Sri Venugopala Swamy temple for running a tiffin shop and subsequently temple authorities evicted them recently.

Now the tribal leaders are staging protests seeking justice for the encroached family. After the eviction, the tribal family approached the Dargamitta police, and they registered a case against temple authorities under SC-ST Atrocities Act even though they have ownership of land which triggered internal disputes among the ruling party leaders.

In fact, a legislator backed the tribal family as part of political rivalry and the Venkatagiri legislator Anam Ramanarayana Reddy directly countered the situation by questioning the role of police in civil issue. The hidden legislator has been playing his role from behind the screen and suddenly tribal leaders entered the scene on Friday and started protests demanding action against the temple management.

"Generally, a tribal family, which runs a petty tiffin shop, cannot approach the police for justice and the police also don't abruptly register cases against temple management. There have been rivalries between the Anam family and some leaders in the district headquarters. It is evident that there was a powerful force within the party that forced the police personnel to register cases and run a movement in the city," said a leader from the ruling party, who doesn't want to be identified.

The Anam family members also united on the issue and extended solidarity to the landowners in the city limits to fight against the practice of encroachments and settlements. Former Minister Dr P Anil Kumar Yadav stated the disputed area belongs to Nellore Rural Constituency during his Gadapa Gadapaku Mana Prabhutvam programme on Friday. Now, revenue or municipal authorities should finalise whether the shop was part of the temple or located on the road margin.