Clash breaks out between TDP, Jana Sena workers over control of temple

A clash broke out between Jana Sena and Telugu Desam Party workers over the control of the management committee of the Aparna Devi temple in a village in Kakinada district on Sunday (June 9).

Visuals showing two groups engaged in a fight on temple premises have gone viral on social media.

The development comes after N Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party (TDP) swept the state Assembly polls. The temple, which was earlier run by the YSRCP-led government, would now be administered by new government under Naidu.

However, locals alleged that the temple administrators handed over the keys of the shrine to cadres of Jana Sena, an ally of the TDP in Andhra Pradesh, without going through the handover formalities.

A villager told ANI that after the results of the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls were announced, the past administrators of the temple gave the keys to the Jana Sena cadres.

The villager said that the keys should have been instead handed over to the village head and a meeting should have been called to decide to pick members of the administrative wing.

The TDP and Pawan Kalyan-led Jana Sena won 21 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state. TDP won 16 seats while the BJP and Jana won three and two respectively.

At the state-level, the NDA won 164 of the 175 seats. The TDP won 135 seats, Jana Sena 21 and BJP eight.

Naidu is scheduled to be sworn in as the chief minister on June 12.