Paritala sparks fly in House

HYDERABAD: The discussion in the state Assembly on the murder of Paritala Ravindra remained incomplete on Friday too, with Nagam Janardhan Reddy of the TDP and V Vasanth Kumar of the Congress trying to portray each other''s party as the root cause of faction feuds in Anantapur district.
Janardhan Reddy, who reiterated his party''s demand for the dismissal of the Y S Rajasekhara Reddy government, kicked up a storm when he said Ravindra would not have been killed if the chief minister had asked his son Jaganmohan Reddy and Gangula Suryanarayana Reddy (Suri) not to carry out the murder.
Targeting IGP (Rayalaseema) R P Meena, Janardhan Reddy said: "It''s Meena who got the murder done, at the behest of Jaganmohan Reddy. He should be arrested immediately."
The TDP leader contended that the state government ordered the CBI probe only after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh intervened. He argued that in the absence of a dying declaration from Paritala, the police ought to take the interview the slain leader had given to a TV channel as one and arrest whoever was named in the interview.
Speaker K R Suresh Reddy objected to repeated usage of certain provocative words and allegations against police officers by Janardhan Reddy and cautioned him to use restraint. When the TDP member appealed to the chief minister not to turn the state into a ''Smashanandhra Pradesh'' , the speaker declared that he was expunging the words from the records.
Turning the tables on the TDP, Vasanth Kumar alleged that the likes of Paritala Ravindra, C Krishna Yadav, P Rama Subba Reddy, Byreddy Rajasekhara Reddy and Kodela Siva Prasada Rao, who were involved in serious criminal cases, were being shielded by the TDP.
Vasanth Kumar alleged that Ravindra had killed eight of Suri''s associates by tapping the phone calls the latter had made from a mobile phone, which was passed on to him by Cherlapally prison superintendent, a relative of TDP legislator P Keshav. However, Keshav rejected the charge and said that his relative was posted only recently.
The Congress legislator claimed that Ravindra had once described Naidu as a ''mosagaadu'' (cheat) who would betray any body who trusts him. Several names mentioned by Vasanth Kumar in this context drew protests from TDP members who stormed into the well of the House.
Panel speaker C Narsi Reddy quickly brought the situation under control by shouting at the TDP members and sending them back to their seats.