Ranga statue demolition sparks protests

Vijayawada: The demolition of a bust-size statue of Vangaveeti Mohan Ranga Rao, icon of Kapu community, in Ajithsingh Nagar sparked protests in the wee hours of Sunday.

The admirers of Ranga resorted to blockade of a main road under the stewardship of his son and YSRC former MLA Radha Krishna, pointing accusing fingers at the TDP.

In fact, the statue was shifted to a corner of the Paipula Road junction from its original place recently, making way for road expansion. The shifting of the statue also drew protests from the Ranga supporters at that time.

The police played it safe by registering a case without dragging themselves much into the sensitive issue.

Radha alleged that certain vested interests were active to systematically hurt the sentiments of Kapus by desecrating their iconic figure.

In a bid to drive his point home, he alluded to a similar act of vandalism involving another statue of his father at Machilipatnam a few months back.

Even as the issue was building up a caste divide in the district headquarters town, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu preempted the issue by deputing Home Minister and Deputy Chief Minister N Chinarajappa, also a Kapu, to Machilipatnam with a promise to replace it with a bronze statue.

It is suspected that the latest issue in Ajithsinghnagar falling under Vijayawada Central Assembly Constituency is a manifestation of a game of one-upmanship between the TDP led by sitting MLA Bonda Umamaheswara Rao and the YSRC headed by Radha.

Incidentally, both the leaders hail from Kapu community.
Radha, who contested on the YSRC ticket lost election in Vijayawada East, which was represented by the Vangaveeti family right from his father Ranga, in the 2014 elections.

Radha understandably is in pursuit of a safe haven by trying to shift his base to the Vijayawada Central, leading to a turf war with Uma, it is alleged.

According to sources, Radha laid a thrust on the Central constituency, mostly comprising the city suburbs inhabited by poor with an element of Ranga adoration, during the party’s recent ‘Gadapa Gadapa ku YSRC’.