AP minister house set ablaze
Protesters oppose renaming of Konaseema dist after Ambedkar
Protesters set fire to the house of transport minister Pinepe Viswaroop and Mummidivaram YSRC MLA Ponnada Satish and at least five buses at Amalapuram in Konaseema district over its proposed renaming after Dr B.R. Ambedkar, after they were prevented from giving a memorandum to the district collector on the matter and lathicharged by the police.
Police opened several rounds of fire in the air to try and control the protesters. Superintendent of police K.S.S.V. Subba Reddy and several police personnel were injured in stone-pelting in the violence lasting about six hours.
Immediately after they were lathicharged, the protesters overturned three RTC buses and two private buses and set them on fire. Then they rushed to the houses of minister Viswaroop and MLA Satish, ransacked the places and set the furniture on fire. The police had evacuated the minister and the MLA along with their family members in advance.
The government had recently issued a preliminary gazette notification to rename Konaseema district with Amalapuram as its headquarter after Dr B.R. Ambedkar and had sought options and objections from the people from the district.
Some locals formed the Konaseema Sadhana Samiti to oppose the change. When they gave a call to take out a march at Amalapuram on Tuesday to submit a representation to the Collector to express their opposition, the police clamped Section 144.
As the agitators started marching toward the Collectorate defying the prohibitory orders, the police lathicharged them. Some of the protesters reached the collectorate and tried to barge in but the police blocked them.
Minister Viswaroop said, “All the political parties wanted the Konaseema district to be renamed as Dr B.R. Ambedkar Konaseema district and accordingly our government wanted to change the name. But some people provoked the youngsters and the Dalits to oppose it while some anti-social elements stepped in and triggered violence in Amalapuram.”
“It is very unfortunate to witness such violence in an otherwise peaceful area. The trouble started at about 4 pm”, he said.