Thaindian News

Hyderabad, May 25 (IANS) Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) activists Wednesday attacked a convoy of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders who were on their way to an Andhra Pradesh town to attend a meeting on the Telangana issue, police said.

Two constables were injured as police intervened to protect TDP leaders when their convoy was attacked by TRS activists at Ibrahimnagar in Medak district.

Senior leaders of the main opposition party were going to Karimnagar to address a public meeting to demand separate statehood to Telangana.

Raising slogans against TDP leaders, the TRS workers stopped the convoy by cutting trees and placing them on the road. Windowpanes of five cars, including that TDP leader Revant Reddy, were damaged.

The TRS activists were demanding that the TDP leaders fight for Telangana only after giving up the party flag.

Police officials later escorted TDP leaders, including E. Dayakar Rao, Devender Goud, M. Narasimhulu and Revant Reddy, to Karimnagar with heavy security.

Revant Reddy earlier created a flutter at the NTR Trust Bhavan, the TDP headquarters in Hyderabad, when he openly brandished a rifle while boarding his vehicle to leave for Karimnagar.

The meeting has sparked a row as TDP Telangana Forum leaders have decided to carry on the struggle for a separate state under the party flag even as their senior colleague and former minister N. Janardhan Reddy and his followers vowed to fight for Telangana without party name and flag.

Janardhan Reddy and his supporters are demanding the party leadership come out openly in support of separate state.

Throwing their weight behind Janardhan Reddy, Osmania University Students Joint Action Committee, the TRS and other groups fighting for separate state have threatened to disrupt the Karimnagar meeting of the TDP.

TRS activists also attacked the residence of TDP politburo member E. Dayakar Rao in Warangal on Wednesday. Police arrested 200 protesters who laid a siege to his house and pelted stones at it. They accused him of betraying the cause of Telangana.

Meanwhile, TRS activists also laid siege to the offices of district collectors in the region, demanding that the central government table a bill in parliament for formation of a separate state.