The crackdown of Andhra Pradesh government against some Telugu news channels for their "irresponsible reporting" about the conspiracy behind former Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's death is now threatening to trigger a new round of factional war within the ruling Congress party.
Sakshi TV, owned by YS Jaganmohan Reddy -- Congress member of Parliament from Kadapa -- is one of the three channels facing the criminal cases for telecast "unverified" reports on January 7, which provoked unprecedented violence across Andhra Pradesh in which mobs of Congress workers and YSR supporters targeted and destroyed the properties of Reliance Group.
The reports, based on a four-month-old report of Russian website The Exiled, had linked the names of Ambani brothers to alleged conspiracy behind YSR's death in a helicopter crash triggering violence, looting and arson.
The CID, which has already arrested two journalists from TV5 -- first to telecast the reports -- has also raided the office of Sakshi TV in Hyderabad and seized a hard disk and CDs containing the controversial reports.
Cases have also been booked against NTV and it has been asked to hand over the hard disc and other material relating to the report to the CID authorities.
Priyadarshini Ram, CEO of Sakshi TV, strongly condemned the raids on channel's office and arrest of two editors of TV5 and wondered why no action was being taken against TV9, which had also telecast the same report.
He said though the reports of destruction of the public and private properties were being telecast for the last months but government had not taken any action against the channels.
The issue of large scale violence on January 7 has now taken a political colour as former president NSUI, Andhra Pradesh Vamsichand Reddy has come under scanner for allegedly sending a SMS to thousands of workers and supporters across the state to organize attacks on Reliance properties.
The SMS was sent even before the TV channels had started telecasting the report, hinting at the possibility of a deeper conspiracy. The message had originated from the mobile and email address of Vamsichand Reddy.
Reddy, who was missing since Saturday night, was believed to be in the custody of CID for questioning.
This can become a huge embarrassment for Jaganmohan Reddy as Vamsi is close to him.
Congress MLA from Nellore, Anam Vivekananda Reddy, an aggressive supporter of Jaganmohan Reddy, has condemned the targeting of Vamsichand Reddy.
"It is unfortunate that Jaganmohan Reddy is being sought to be blamed for every thing and the name of YSR was being dragged in to every thing".
On the incidents of January 7, he said there were incidents here and there because of the tremendous respect the people have for YSR. "It is wrong to see them as an anti national act," he said.
According to the sources, the role of Sakshi TV in this entire episode has not gone down well with the Congress high command and state government decided to act against Sakshi TV only after getting signals from the central leaders.
