Political violence continues to haunt Andhra Pradesh's Rayalaseema

The murder of YSR Congress Party president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s uncle Y S Vivekananda Reddy comes as yet another grim reminder of how the culture of political violence continues to haunt the Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh.

“Even an angry stare can invite a bomb attack here,” goes a saying in the backward region notorious for the cycle of revenge killings and rivalries running through generations.

The killing of Vivekananda, 68, the younger brother of former AP Chief Minister late Y S Rajasekhar Reddy, has triggered a bitter political confrontation with the YSRCP alleging the role of the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders in the killing. The Opposition party has demanded a CBI probe to expose the “political conspiracy” behind the murder and pointed an accusing finger at Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu who has a long-standing feud with the YSR family.

The state government has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT), comprising senior police officials, to probe the case amid indications that the opposition party would make it a campaign theme for the coming elections.

Blood-soaked History

Rayalaseema region has a blood-soaked history of faction violence where political parties are subservient to local warlords. Both Chandrababu Naidu and Jagan Reddy hail from this region which has seen a cycle of revenge killings over decades.

Jagan’s family carries the stigma of encouraging violent faction politics in Kadapa district of the region. His grandfather Raja Reddy, an affluent contractor, was killed in a bomb attack at a busy bus stand in Kadapa in May, 1998. The murder was blamed on local TDP leaders. One of the accused, P Uma Maheswara Reddy, who sustained splinter injuries while attacking Raja Reddy, was hacked to death in retaliation on the same day. Four other accused were also hunted down and eliminated during the trial.

Jagan’s family has raised suspicions over the death of YSR in a helicopter crash on September 2, 2009, barely a few months after becoming Chief Minister for a second term.

Rayalaseema is referred in political circles as “Bombulaseema” for the brutal political killings using bombs and swords. The local factions, backed by political parties, have been engaged in bloody battles for decades for supremacy in villages.

Romantic Makeover on Celluloid

The faction feuds in the region are often given a romantic makeover in dozens of Telugu films depicting the dons as do-gooders who would go to any extent to redeem family honour and help those who are loyal to them. The audience get to see a stylised presentation of violence in graphic details, on the lines of Quentin Tarantino’s movies.

“Rakta Charitra” a 2010 bilingual movie in Hindi and Telugu by Ram Gopal Varma, portrays the turbulent life journey of a gangster-turned politician Paritala Ravindra and his rivalry with local warlords having allegiance to Congress.

Ravindra, hailed by his admirers as a do-gooder and dreaded by his opponents as a merciless killer, was shot dead near TDP’s office in Anantapur in January 2005, a few months after Congress came to power in the then combined Andhra Pradesh.

A four-time legislator, he was an accused in several murder cases and had survived many assassination attempts. “Rakta Charitra’ is the story of his phenomenal rise to power and the intense, blood-curdling conflict between two factions.

Ravi’s father and brother were murdered by local rivals. He became a rebel, and fled to the jungles, plotting revenge for his family’s death. He had also hobnobbed with Naxalites. In 1994, Ravindra was elected as an MLA from Penukonda in Anantapur district and was inducted into the  N T Rama Rao’s cabinet. Robinhood for his followers for daring to stand up against the feudal lords of Rayalaseema, Ravindra was accused of eliminating many of his enemies in the bloody faction feuds during the TDP regime

In fact, Jagan was accused of engineering the sensational murder. However, the CBI, which probed the murder, exonerated him.

The prime accused in Ravindra’s murder M Suryanarayana Reddy alias Suri, who was subsequently shot dead, was a known Congress sympathiser and allegedly close to YSR’s family. The rivalry between the families of Ravindra and Suri dates back to the 1980s. In a bid to gain political supremacy, Suri’s father Narayana Reddy had allegedly ordered killing of Ravindra’s father Ramulu and since then the two families have only seen bloodshed.

Ravindra’s elder brother Paritala Hari avenged his father’s murder by brutally killing Narayana Reddy in 1983. Hari was later killed in a police encounter which brought Ravi into the scene. He eliminated S Chenna Reddy, an MLA, and his two sons, considered to be supporters of the Suri family. Ravindra also tried to finish Suri’s entire family by delivering a television set loaded with explosives, but Suri escaped the attempt as he was not present in the house. Suri’s mother and two sisters were killed in the TV blast in 1993.

With only revenge in his mind, Suri went underground and hatched a plot to kill Ravindra who had by then joined the TDP and was elected to the Assembly. Suri’s attempt to eliminate him through a remote-controlled car bomb blast failed but at least 26 persons lost their lives in the incident in the upmarket Jubilee Hills area in 1997.

Suri was arrested for masterminding the blast and was convicted by the court. Suri, however, continued to operate from the jail and his trusted lieutenants eliminated many of Ravi’s supporters and finally got the TDP legislator himself at Anantapur in 2005.

Attack on Jagan

A knife attack on Jagan at Visakhapatnam Airport on October 25 had triggered a political storm in the state with his party alleging that it was part of a conspiracy hatched by the TDP while the investigation by the state police had concluded that it was a minor incident.

Following a directive from the High Court in January, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken up the investigation into the case involving an attack by Srinivas, a worker at the airport canteen, with a cockfight knife as the opposition leader was waiting to board a flight to Hyderabad.

The TDP, however, dubbed it as a “stage-managed show” to defame the Chief Minister.

Political Slanging Match

Jagan has accused the Chief Minister of hatching a conspiracy to eliminate his uncle. On his part, Naidu has rubbished the allegation and launched a counter attack, saying that Vivekananda’s family members had “wiped out the evidence at the scene of offence.”

“Every time a murder happens in my family, the TDP has been in power. When my grandfather was murdered, it was at the helm. When there was an attempt on my life at Vizag airport, TDP is in power and when this murder happened, the TDP is in the ruling,” Jagan alleged.