TD men observe bandh against Pandu murder

Vijayawada, Sept. 27: Telugu Desam leaders on Monday conde-mned the murder of Penamaluru constituency TD incharge and senior TD lea-der Chalasani Venkatesw-ara Rao alias Pandu in Hyd-erabad on Sunday night.

Pandu was defeated by a very narrow margin of 150 votes in the 2009 Assembly elections in Penamaluru constituency. He went to Hyderabad two days ago to attend personal work and was murdered in an apartment there.

Former MP Gadde Rammohan, TD state secretary Bonda Umamaheswara Rao, Congress leader Buddha Venkanna, MLA Devineni Umamaheswara Rao and minister for animal husbandry K. Parthasaradhi condemned the murder of Pandu. The Telugu Desam observed a bandh in Vuyyur protesting against the murder. All shops, business establishments and educational institutions remained closed as the TD men asked them to down the shutters.

Pandu has long association with Vuyyur Assembly segment which was later changed into Penamaluru segment. The 52-year-old leader was born in Ventrapragada village near Vuyyur.

TD leader and MLC Mr Y. Rajendra Prasad, ZPTC member Mr R. Ramachandra Rao, former mandal president Mr B. Pitchi Reddy and others led the bandh in Vuyyur. Tight security was posted in Vuyyur to prevent any untoward accident.

The TD cadre also staged a rasta roko in Penamaluru, Kankipadu and Jaggaiahpet protesting against the murder. Pandu joined the Telugu Desam since its inception by late N.T. Rama Rao and later joined the Congress. After a brief period, he again joined the TD and contested the polls in 2009. He was defeated three times in the Assembly elections in 1999, 2005 and 2009 and has been trying to strengthen his position in the Penamaluru constituency.

A pal of gloom descended at his residence in JD Nagar of Patamata area in Vijayawada since news broke out of his murder. He is survived by wife Chalasani Padmavathi, son Sriram and married daughter Devineni Smitha.

TD activists voluntarily observed bandh in parts of Vijayawada protesting against the murder. Meanwhile, police posted tight security to prevent any untoward incident in Vijayawada, Jaggaiahpet, Nandigama, Penamaluru, Vuyyur and Machilipatnam. The police and common people heaved a sigh of relief with the news broke out that it was not political murder.