Tearful farewell to Yadaiah in Nagaram

Siripuram Yadaiah, who set himself ablaze on the Osmania University campus yesterday afternoon, died in the Apollo Hospital at Santoshnagar while battling for life. The youth, die-hard activist of separate Telangana state, belonged to Nagaram village under Home Minister, Ms Sabitha Indra Reddy’s Maheshwaram Assembly Constituency of Ranga Reddy district. Yadaiah who lost both his parents was working as a cashier in a bar and restaurant in Kothapet. The irate villagers of Nagaram demanded that the Home Minister visit the village and pay tributes to the martyred youth. They also refused to allow cremation of Yadaiah until Ms Sabitha Indra Reddy visited the village and join the last journey. The state BJP leaders, Mr Bandaru Dattatreya and Mr Baddam Bal Reddy, TRS leader Harish Rao, the senior Telugu Desam leader, Mr T Devendar Goud, balladeer Gaddar, the MRPS president, Mr Manda Krishna Madiga and several others visited Nagaram and offered floral tributes. A big contingent of police force was deployed at the village for the funeral procession. Several leaders of various parties, who visited Nagaram, were gheraoed by the Telangana protagonists. Yadagiri, who set himself ablaze close to Café Coffee Day near the NCC gate on the Western side of the Osmania University, rushed towards the policemen present at the gate. Alarmed policemen doused the fire and shifted him to a hospital in an ambulance. In the handwritten letter, Yadagiri maintained that he was an orphan and had studied in Victoria Memorial Home in Saroornagar till class X. He stated that the Government was unresponsive to the aspirations of the people and that a separate Telangana should be formed immediately. The grievously burnt youngster, identified as Siripuram Yadagiri (19) of Maheshwaram mandal in Rangareddy district, was rushed to the Apollo Hospital near DRDL. His condition was stated to be critical. Incensed students engaged the police in pitched battles as they spilled out onto the Tarnaka-Habsiguda road by evening. They ignored tear gas shells and even stun grenades while hurling stones on police forces at Ground ‘A’ behind the RTC hospital near Tarnaka. Several policemen were injured in the stone-pelting. The former minister and senior Congress leader, Mr Jeevan Reddy, held both the Congress and Telugu Desam parties responsible for the suicides by the heart-broken Telangana supporters. While the Telangana region was in great turmoil, the Chief Minister, Mr K Rosaiah, and the TDP leader and Leader of Opposition, Mr N Chandrababu Naidu, were resorting to “match-fixing” with an intention to prevent the turmoil from coming for discussion in the Assembly, he added.