During an election campaign in Telangana, Kotha Prabhakar Reddy, a parliamentarian from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) representing Medak, was the victim of a stabbing incident. The attacker, who operates a YouTube channel, carried out the assault during the party’s campaign event in Surampally village, located in the Doulatabak block of Siddipet district, Telangana, on Monday afternoon. Following surgery, Reddy’s condition is now stable. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao strongly condemned the attack and pledged to take appropriate action.
The incident unfolded as Kotha Prabhakar Reddy, who is also the BRS candidate for the Dubbak assembly constituency in the upcoming state assembly elections, was engaged in a door-to-door election campaign. He had just left the residence of a local pastor when the assailant, identified as Dattani Raju, launched a sudden attack. Raju stabbed Reddy once in the right side of his abdomen.
Accused of the assault, Dattani Raju hails from Cheppyala village and was swiftly apprehended. Party supporters immediately subdued him and later turned him over to the authorities.
Following the attack, Reddy was rushed to Gajwel Hospital, where he received initial medical attention before being transferred to a corporate hospital in Hyderabad. Thankfully, his condition is reported as stable, according to a party spokesperson.
Later in the evening, Kotha Prabhakar Reddy underwent a surgical procedure at Yashoda Hospitals in Secunderabad. The senior surgeon, Dr. Vijay Kumar, reported that the stabbing had resulted in a deep wound in the intestine, necessitating the removal of a portion of the small intestine to prevent septic infection.
Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) personally visited Prabhakar Reddy in the hospital and conveyed his best wishes for a swift recovery. KCR emphasized that in the past decade, Telangana had not witnessed such violent incidents in politics. He expressed that the attack on Prabhakar Reddy was not just an assault on the individual but an attack on the democratic process itself. He further stated that despite political differences, the discourse should be based on ideas and issues, and violent attacks had no place in democratic politics. KCR pledged that strict action would be taken against the culprits responsible for the attack.
A . Revanth Reddy, the President of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee, strongly denounced the attack and reiterated the party’s commitment to non-violent politics. He called for a thorough and stringent investigation into the assault on the BRS candidate, emphasizing the need for transparency in the investigative process.
M. Raghunandan Rao, the BJP candidate and the current MLA for Dubbak, also condemned the attack. He expressed his displeasure at ruling party members who were hastily assigning blame on social media, asserting that he had no involvement in the incident. Raghunandan Rao emphasized the importance of allowing the police to conduct a thorough investigation and bring the actual culprits to justice.
