Attack triggers a political storm with both the ruling TDP and Opposition parties blaming each other.
The attack on YSR Congress president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy at Visakhapatnam airport on Thursday has turned into a fresh political battle between the party and ruling TDP. While YSR Congress has said that “it was a cold blooded murder attempt planned by TDP men”, the ruling party claimed that “it was a stage managed stunt, to draw publicity”. The TDP also said that the BJP was trying to use the incident to destabilise the Naidu government in Andhra.
Jagan Mohan Reddy was stabbed in the left shoulder by a youth at Visakhapatnam airport at 12.30 pm on Thursday and is out of danger after he was treated at a private hospital in Hyderabad later in the evening. However, the attack kicked off a political storm in Andhra politics, with both the ruling TDP and Opposition parties blaming each other for the incident.
The youth, Janipally Srinivasa Rao, around 25, is working as a waiter at Fusion Foods restaurant inside the airport for the last one year and came to serve Jagan Reddy at the VIP Lounge when he arrived there to take a flight to Hyderabad. Srinivasa Rao, smilingly approached Jagan Reddy and wanted to take a seflie on his mobile. He even told Jagan Reddy that he would win at least 160 (out of 175) Assembly seats.
While trying to take a selfie, the youth took out a small but sharp knife, about 3.5 inches, commonly used in cock fights and tried to stab in Jagan Reddy’s throat. Jagan Reddy ducked and the knife hit his left shoulder with a deep cut and his personal security guards overpowered the youth and handed him to the airport security. He was quickly taken out by the Visakhapatnam police.
Jagan Reddy later took a flight to Hyderabad and reached Nuro Centre Hospital in Banjara Hills in the city where he was treated by doctors. Jagan Reddy comes to Hyderabad every Thursday to attend a hearing in a CBI court at Nampally every Friday. For the last two months, Jagan Reddy has been catching the same flight from Vizag airport and his party leaders suspect the attack could be a well-planned murder attempt.
BJP general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP G.V.L. Narasimha Rao was the first to demand a judicial probe by a sitting High Court judge into the “mafia type politics encouraged by the TDP and the Hitler-style administration” of Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu. Condemning the incident from Delhi, Rao said that the attack was a pre-planned murder attempt on Jagan Reddy.
Union Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu ordered an investigation into the breach of security inside the airport. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) which looks after security at the airport said that inside security is not their responsibility. CISF DGP C.V. Anand said that their job is only to guard the property of the airport, but passenger security is looked after by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security.
G.V.L. Narasimha Rao expressed doubts over the timing and place of the attempt as “the masterminds behind it” might have thought that it could be portrayed as a failure of the Central government as the airport falls under its purview. “Everyone knows that Jagan Reddy uses this airport every Thursday and the VIP lounge would be an isolated place to attack him,” Rao said, adding: “Chandrababu Naidu and his party leaders are good at instigating mafia by spreading falsehood.”
The Andhra Pradesh government has ordered a probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Vizag north ACP Nageswara Rao and DGP R.P. Thakur. The attacker is under police custody. Vizag DCP Mahendra Patrudu’s remarks at a media conference later in the day that Srinivasa Rao was a fan of Jagan Reddy and that he did it for the sake of publicity drew flak from YSR Congress and BJP.
DGP Thakur’s statement that the police had recovered an 8-page letter from the pocket of the accused, too, was objected to by the YSR Congress leaders who said that the government was trying to reduce the gravity of the attack and save the miscreant. YSR Congress said that the owner of Fusion Foods—Harshavardhan Prasad—was an active member of TDP and that waiter Srinivasa Rao was hired with a purpose to murder Jagan Reddy.