Hyderabad: A pro-Telangana activist Thursday threw a sandal towards Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N. Chandrababu Naidu during a public meeting in Nizamabad district of Telangana region. It fell short of its target.
For the second day in a row, Naidu, currently on a padyatra in Telangana to highlight farmers` problems, faced protest from activists of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and other groups fighting for separate statehood to the region.
The protesters disrupted Naidu`s public meeting at Jakranpalli in Nizamabad Thursday evening. One of them hurled his footwear towards Naidu but it only landed on the dais.
Enraged TDP activists thrashed the TRS worker, who was later arrested by police.
The trouble began when Naidu was addressing the crowd to mark the culmination of his day-long padyatra in the district. Raising slogans of "Jai Telangana", the protesters disrupted his speech and tried to advance towards the dais. Police and TDP workers resisted their attempts.
Angry over the disruption, Naidu alleged that the TRS was acting against the interests of farmers and asked his party workers and people to strongly condemn the attempt to disrupt the meet.
Naidu also told the meeting that he never spoke against Telangana. He said as a president of the party, it was his responsibility to protect it across the state. He blamed the central government for creating uncertainty by not taking a decision on the issue.
TRS and Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) have already threatened to disrupt Naidu`s visit to Telangana, saying he has no moral right to visit the region after going back on his promise to carve out a separate state.
TRS, JAC and other groups alleged that police arrested a large number of their leaders and workers ahead of Naidu`s visit.
The former chief minister had to face similar protest in Adilabad district Wednesday. The protesters threw eggs on his convoy at Utnoor.
IANS
