The YSRCP government in Andhra Pradesh, which had to face a lot of brickbats over alleged attacks on temples in the recent past, received surprising backing from the Communist Party of India.
On Friday, when the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders gave a call for “Chalo Amalapuram” and “Chalo Antarvedi” rallies by the party workers to protest against the burning of chariot at Antarvedi temple recently, CPI state secretary K Ramakrishna found fault with them for making it a big issue.
“When the state government has already ordered for a CBI probe into the Antarvedi chariot burning incident, why are these BJP leaders still creating a fuss in the name of Chalo Antarvedi? They are creating law and order issues,” he said.
Ramakrishna, however, alleged that the YSRC and BJP were enjoying love-hate relationship to hoodwink the people.
“In the state, the BJP leaders put up a show as if they are criticising the YSRC government. But at the Centre, both are friendly parties,” he said.
On Friday, several BJP leaders including state BJP president Somu Veerraju, former president Kanna Lakshminarayana, former Union minister Daggubati Purandeshwari, party general secretary P Vishnuvardhan Reddy and former state minister Ravela Kishore Babu were kept under house arrest, following their call for Chalo Amalapuram rally.
Hundreds of BJP activists were taken into preventive custody, as they raised slogans against the government for not protecting the properties of temples and hurting the sentiments of the Hindus. The police made massive security arrangements in the region to prevent any untoward incidents.
BJP Rajya Sabha MP and national spokerman G V L Narasimha Rao wrote a letter to Union home minister Amit Shah requesting that strict instructions be given to the state government to prevent attacks on Hindu religious institutions.
“The Jagan government is resorting to undemocratic means and is hurting the sentiments of the Hindus. We requested the home minister to intervene and rein in the government,” he said.