00:00And now shifting focus, an attack on India Today's crew in Andhra Pradesh's Puli Vendula
00:08while they were covering the Andhra Pradesh civic polls has now triggered a political face-off
00:13between the ruling TDP and the opposition YSRCP.
00:17India Today Associate Editor Abdul Bashir and camera person S. Vijay were covering the local body polls
00:22in Puli Vendula when they were allegedly confronted and assaulted by unidentified men.
00:28The crew's camera was smashed and their mobile phones snatched.
00:32The incident has now snowballed into a political war with the TDP accusing the YSRCP
00:37of orchestrating the attack to target the coalition government and also discredit it nationally.
00:42The party has gone further, accusing Jagan Mohan Reddy of fostering political terror
00:47and also engineering the electoral victories.
00:50YSRCP Chief Jagan Mohan Reddy has hit back at the Naidu government over the attack on the India Today crew.
00:55He flagged concerns over journalists' safety, demanding freedom to report an impartial probe into the assault
01:01and also accountability from the TDP government.
01:05When Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy was the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, he has ensured that every ward
01:11in Puli Vendula was unanimous.
01:15And he's preaching democracy today.
01:18Please ask him this question.
01:20How was it unanimous in the last election?
01:23Today we are ensuring that elections happen.
01:27We are asking them to come.
01:30If you notice that, in certain instances, we actually gave police protection for people who wanted to file nomination.
01:37If you look at it in Puli Vendula, they filed nomination.
01:39We didn't stop anymore. No one was stopped.
01:41They came.
01:42But look at it.
01:42They are creating a law and order problem.
01:44Last night, they burned vehicles and they blame us.
01:46They attacked people and they blame us.
01:49They have not entered, were not in a position to enter the booths.
01:56This is the plight.
01:58This is the plight of people who have won for voting.
02:04And you call this democracy.
02:07Out of 80 booths, you don't even permit agents to sit down.
02:12And this is just not in Puli Vendula.
02:16The same situation, as you see, in Puli Vendula, is currently prevalent.
02:23In Puli Vendula, Kadapa, Jamal Madugu, Chittur, Macharla, Chilakalur Peta, Thadi Patri, Madanapalli, and Chimakurti.
02:38In all these areas, including Kupam, in all these areas, including Kupam, this is the situation.
02:49And my colleague Abdul Bashir, who was in fact attacked and assaulted by these unidentified individuals in Andhra Pradesh, is
02:57now joining us.
02:58Abdul, are you okay now?
03:00And please help us understand what exactly unfolded and why were you and the camera person attacked?
03:08Well, today, early hours, as the polling had to take place in Puli Vendula, the municipal body, there were 40
03:15wards in which 20 were unanimously done.
03:21And 20 were to be contested, where polling was to be done in the 20 wards.
03:26We went to cover this particular election in Puli Vendula when we entered the Aho Villapuram area near the government
03:37school.
03:37We had a polling booth where what we observed was there was some kind of an activity, a group of
03:44people gathered.
03:45There was some kind of a rigging that was ongoing.
03:47And our camera person, as usual, we were covering the whole sequence of events that was unfolding there.
03:55At around, we started around 6.50 a.m.
03:58And when we covered around half an hour to 40 minutes, suddenly, in a near the Gandhi statue close to
04:06Puli Vendula police station, a mob appeared.
04:10And they started snatching the camera from my colleague, my video journalist, Vijay.
04:17When I went and intervened, the crowd was so aggressive that they were, you know, they were snatching away the
04:25camera.
04:26And the moment the camera person left the camera, they removed the memory card.
04:31They took the battery from the camera and made sure that the camera is completely damaged so that we don't
04:36have any kind of footage that was ongoing over there.
04:40We were just reporting, we're doing our duty there.
04:42The police was on the spot, but, you know, the police also could not help, but as there were a
04:48huge number of the mob that was gathered there.
04:53And, you know, stone pelting took place in a nearby place.
04:56So there was a lot of chaos in that particular area when we were covering the whole sequence of events
05:01unfolding at that particular spot.
05:03And this incident, around 8, 8, 10, it had taken place.
05:08And immediately, we just, you know, safeguarding our lives, we just left the spot and, you know, took the camera,
05:16whatever came to our hand.
05:17Our ID cards were snatched.
05:19And even after knowing that we are from the national media, the mob, you know, attacked mercilessly and broke the
05:27whole camera, took away the memory card, took away the battery.
05:30And then we moved from that particular spot.
05:34And later, we filed a complaint where an affair has been registered, where the police has promised that they will
05:41definitely take action against those who were involved.
05:45What we are learning is that there are four cameras available at that particular spot.
05:49But the CCTV footage was not given by the officials.
05:52When we've asked repeatedly since the morning, I spoke to the inspector there of Sulevandula.
05:58He told that he will give the footage.
05:59But right now, we did not receive any CCTV footage from that particular area.
06:04YSR7 already had, you know, condemned the attack.
06:08Absolutely, Abdul.
06:09So, a war of words has also now erupted.
06:11The blame game has now started between the TDP and the YSRCP over this violence in which India Today crew
06:18members were attacked.
06:20Abdul Bashir telling us what exactly unfolded, because he was also one of the crew members who were attacked, along
06:27with Abdul Bashir, camera person Vijay, was also attacked.
06:31And we're showing you the visuals of the camera that was also smashed.
06:37And the battery and the memory card was something that the unidentified individuals took away.
06:45And this was because of my colleague Abdul Bashir recording the entire stone pelting incidents and also alleged poll rigging
06:54in other the civic elections.
