The first battle in what could be a long drawn-out war on the turf of coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema took place in Hyderabad on Thursday, when Telugu Desam Party (TDP) activists tried to storm the offices of the vernacular daily Sakshi to protest against the comments allegedly made by former Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy against their party president N Chandrababu Naidu.
Condemning the remarks, which were allegedly against Naidu, carried in the Thursday's edition of Sakshi, TDP activists tried to barge into the newspaper's office at Banjara Hills. They had arrived in a procession, the media being alerted already about the sequence of events which was to follow.
Raising slogans against Jaganmohan Reddy, the activists made their futile bid to enter the premises, where the alert police foiled their attempts and took a few of them into custody, and shifted them to the nearby police station. The TDP activists also burnt a few copies of the daily in front of the office.
Addressing the gathering, Telugu Yuvatha State President Beeda Ravichandra Yadav demanded that Jaganmohan Reddy withdraw his remarks.
Ravinchandra Yadav denounced the remarks which said that the TDP chief's fast was aimed at getting political mileage and had hidden agenda. The Telugu Yuvatha President also sought the Kadapa leader's apology.
Ravichandra Yadav warned of serious consequences if Jaganmohan Reddy did not withdraw his remarks against Mr Naidu.
The remarks attributed to Jaganmohan Reddy included that Naidu's 'political drama' was aimed at garnering attention away from his own 'Lakshya Deeksha' in Vijayawada.
The protest and the slogan-shouting led to tension prevailing on Road no. 12, Banjara Hills, with traffic on the busy road coming to a standstill. The police had a tough time to ease traffic on the road.