congress wins majority MPPs in violence-marred polls

Hyderabad, July 11 (UNI)Continuing its winning streak, the ruling Congress in Andhra Pradesh today so far bagged 483 Mandal Praja Parishads(MPPs), while the TDP won 272 MPPs as violence marred the indirect elections leaving a TDP activist dead.

The elections to 60 MPPs were postponed for want of quorum.

Independents were successful in 24 MPPs as the CPI(M) so far won 14 MPPs, TRS 13, CPI 12, BSP two and BJP one in the indirect elections which witnessed wrangles between the ruling and opposition parties, the State Election Commission .

Police fired in the air to disperse TRS activists who threw stones at police upset with the MPP election results in Tandoor mandal in Adilabad district.

In Mahaboobnagar district, the TDP activist was killed in a stampede after stone throwing by ruling and opposition party activists in Pedamandadi mandal headquarters, where both the parties have won equal number of MPTC seats.

Tension prevailed in Badwel Mandal in Kadapa district and in Karlapalem in Guntur district as ruling and opposition party activists clashed.

In Kurnool, the TDP conducted a mock funeral in protest against the Congress allegedly ''murdering democracy'' in Anantapur in yesterday's Zilla Parishad Elections.

Justifying the party's approach to the polls in Anantapur, Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, talking to mediapersons, brushed aside he TDP charge and asked whether the TDP protected democracy by luring Congress ZPTC members in the 2001 Panchayat elections in Rangareddy and Warangal districts.

Pradesh Congress chief K Keshava Rao,MP, and Union Minister of State for Rural Development and Senior TRS leader A Narendra were involved in a war of words as the deadlock in sharing of power in three Zilla Parishads between the two parties persisted.

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