Kuppam, the native constituency of Telugu Desam Party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, turned into a virtual battlefield with ruling YSR Congress party going all out to prevent Naidu from retaining his hold.
For the last two days, Kuppam has been witnessing clashes between the YSRC and the TDP cadres on the occasion of the three-day tour of Naidu in the constituency as part of his “Badude Badudu” programme.
On Thursday, the YSRC gave a bandh call in Kuppam and vowed to stall the vist of Naidu in the town.
The YSRC cadres pulled down the flex boards and banners erected by the TDP cadre welcoming Naidu and ransacked the Anna Canteen supposed to be inaugurated by Naidu.
This led to retaliation by the TDP workers, leading to serious clashes with the YSRC workers.
The TDP workers, too, tried to lay siege to the house of YSRC in-charge K R J Bharath and the police had to resort to lathi-charge to disperse the warring mobs.
Naidu who walked down to the Anna Canteen staged a sit-in on the road to register his protest against the YSRC vandalism.
He alleged that the YSRC was creating a law and order situation in Kuppam which had always remained peaceful in the last four decades.
The private schools were voluntarily closed and the RTC buses within Kuppam were confined to the depot.
The police have set up barricades at many places in the town to prevent any untoward incident. The RTC depot premises became deserted with the bandh call.
Meanwhile, to prevent a clash between YSRCP and TDP in the Kollupalle area, SP Rishant Reddy has taken up large-scale security. Police force has been deployed in the town.