Paritala Ravi Story - Part17

Post-2004 Elections:Telugu Desam(TDP) lost power and congress formed government in the state. From theday three of forming the govt, i.e from May 14th onwards, killing of TDP activists startedin the Anantapur district. Ravi's houses in Anantapur and Venkatapuram were frequentlyraided by the police.

THE criminal element in Andhra Pradesh politics was in full view on January 24, whenhired killers gunned down the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) legislator from Penukonda,Paritala Ravindra, in Anantapur town.A faction leader whose name was linked with a number of criminal cases, the 45-year-oldRavindra, or Ravi, had a questionable reputation. His opponents even alleged that herepresented all that was wrong with politics in the Rayalaseema region.The sheer brutality of the murder, in broad daylight, and its violent aftermath shook the people of Andhra Pradesh. The TDP voiced its fears about possible attempts by hisnumerous enemies to kill him. Soon after the Congress came to power in the State in May2004, the heavy security cover that Ravi enjoyed was scaled down. The MLA petitionedthe Andhra Pradesh High Court, which ordered restoration of the 10 gunmen deployedfor his protection earlier.The fact that Ravi was killed amid a clutch of private as well as police gunmen and acrowd of party workers revealed the meticulous manner in which the murder had been planned. He was waiting at the gate of the TDP district headquarters after a party meetingto board his vehicle, at around 2-55 p.m., when two gunmen confronted him and openedfire. Realising that he had been set up for a `hit', Ravi, who was felled by the first salvo,shouted for help. But, the killers, who were now joined by another, pumped bullets intohis head and fled after killing an aide and a police gunman.As news spread about the killing, TDP workers went on the rampage in several towns andcities. They set ablaze buses of the A.P. State Road Transport Corporation and broke the windscreens of a large number of other vehicles. They also expressed their ire atgovernment offices.At the end of two days of pitched battles between the police and TDP workers, theAPSRTC was poorer by nearly Rs.20 crores. Eighty of its buses had been burnt and 576had their windscreens and glass panes smashed. The vandalism was the kind which TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu had passionately opposed when he was Chief Minister.When peace returned to the streets, Chandrababu Naidu had a hard time justifying thearson and violence indulged in by his partymen. "It was a spontaneous outburst of emotion," he said.This was not the first time that large-scale violence was witnessed in Andhra Pradeshafter the slaying of an MLA. Properties worth an estimated Rs.300 crores was set ablaze by followers of Vangaveeti Ranga, a Congress MLA and a prominent leader of the Kapucommunity, who was killed while he was observing a fast in December 1988. Ravi'skilling has confirmed the explosive nature of the mix of criminality, caste and politics inAndhra Pradesh.