Rival groups come to blows at DCC meeting

ANANTAPUR: Group rivalries came to the fore once again at the District Congress Committee meeting held here on Monday with supporters of ministers S Sailajanath and N Raghuveera Reddy and former minister JC Diwakar Reddy coming to blows.Men from both groups entered into fist fights and foul-mouthed each other despite the attempts of the ministers to pacify them.The DCC organised the general body meeting in view of PCC president B Satyanarayana’s scheduled visit on October 3.Sailajanath, Raghuveera Reddy, MP A Venkatarami Reddy, MLAs K Sudhakar, K Madhusudhan Gupta, DCC president Patil Venugopal Reddy, secretary K Vijayabhaskar Reddy, former minister JC Diwakar Reddy’s brother and former Tadipatri municipal chairman JC Prabhakar Reddy attended.Soon after Raghuveera Reddy started addressing the meeting, Diwakar Reddy’s supporters started raising slogans in support of Prabhakar Reddy.Though they remained silent initially, the followers of Rahghuveera Reddy and Sailajanath started sloganeering when Prabhakar Reddy came onto the stage for addressing the gathering leading to a heated argument between both the groups.Within a very short time, both the groups started foul-mouthing each other that led to fisticuffs creating a pandemonium. Noise levels were so high that no one was able to hear what others were speaking. Observing the situation was slipping out of control, police who were deployed outside the hall rushed inside and separated the activists.