Minister gets mail from PW

MAHABUBNAGAR: The People’s War PW) has reportedly threatened sports minister P Ramulu to quit TDP or else face serious consequences. The militant outfit handed out a similar warning to Mahabubnagar district TDP president P Manohar.
According to sources, Ramulu, representing the Achampet constituency in the Assembly, received threat letters and phone calls from the PW asking him to quit his ministerial position and the party.He reportedly informed the PW’s threat to Chandrababu Naidu and police officials. The warning letters to the minister comes in the wake of mass resignations by the ruling party leaders from Achampet and Kollapur during the past two months following naxalite threats.
The sources said district TDP president Manohar, who also hails from Achampet, too received similar letters and phone calls. Following this, he shifted his family to Hyderabad and restricted his movements in the naxalite-affected areas. The PW had recently issued a dictum asking leaders not to work for the TDP or the BJP in Achampet and Kollapur areas.
The leaders who quit the ruling party include Gundya Naik, Ramavath Mangamma, Lokya Naik, all MPTC members. The naxalites have a strong hold on Achampet and Kollapur. They organised a ‘Longubatu Mela’ (surrender mela) for political leaders in the forests and reportedly even beat them up.
It may be recalled that 26 political leaders, including TDP activists, were used as human shield by the naxalites when there was an encounter with police near Ganpur Achampet mandal last week. The leaders were called by the naxalites for a Longubatu Mela.
According to a senior TDP leader, it all began when some Congress leaders from Amrabad lodged a complaint with the naxalites that the TDP leaders were involved in large-scale irregularities in the Food-for-Work (FFW) works.
The TDP leader admitted that the resignations would affect the party’s prospects in the next elections. The Jana Chaitanya Yatras were not conducted in the villages in the two constituencies and Janmabhoomi programmes would also face similar fate, he said. The latest resignations have jolted the ruling party in these two constituencies.