Attack on AV Subba Reddy: Nandyal court remands Akhila Priya, husband to judicial custody

NANDYAL: A Nandyal court on Wednesday remanded TDP leader and former minister Bhuma Akhila Priya and her husband Bhargav Ram to 14-day judicial custody in connection with Tuesday night attack on another TDP leader AV Subba Reddy in Nandyal constituency.

The two, besides other accused in the case, were produced before the Nandyal court which ordered their remand in judicial custody till May 30, 2023.

The Nandyal police in Andhra Pradesh arrested TDP leader and former minister Bhuma Akhila Priya in Allagadda on Wednesday morning in connection with the attack on TDP’s A V Subba Reddy on Tuesday night. A few other associates of Akhila Priya including her PA Mohan were also taken into custody. Reports claimed that she was shifted to Panyam police station even as an attempt to murder case was registered in connection with the incident.

The factions of Bhuma Akhila Priya and AV Subba Reddy, a staunch loyalist of Akhila Priya’s father the late Bhuma Nagireddy, have been at loggerheads for quite sometime in an ongoing turf war. The feud took an ugly turn during the preparations for welcoming Nara Lokesh, who is on his Yuva Galam Padayatra, into Nandyal Assembly constituency at Kothapalli village on Tuesday evening. While both the factions led by Akhila Priya and AV Subba Reddy vied with each other in extending the welcome, a few of the former minister’s supporters launched a brutal assault on AV Subba Reddy.

The senior leader of Nandyal suffered heavy bleeding from nose as Akhila Priya’s men kicked and punched him indiscriminately. At one stage, Subba Reddy lost his balance and fell on the ground which did not stop the activists of the rival group from attacking him. AV Subba Reddy was later shifted to the Nandyal Government Hospital where he is being treated for the injuries received in the incident.

The incident, though triggered tension locally, was hardly surprising given the fact that both Akhilapriya and AV Subba Reddy have been eying the TDP ticket from Nandyal Assembly constituency in the 2024 elections. The war for local supremacy between the two factions of the TDP is only expected to intensify further in the coming months.