Suryakanth's men intensify stir

Tension prevailed for a while in the town, when a few supporters of Suryakanth Nagamarapalli, son of BJP MLA Gurupadappa Nagamarapalli, attempted to immolate themselves on Saturday. 

They were protesting against the party for denying him a ticket to contest the Lok Sabha elections from the Bidar constituency. On the second day of their protest, the supporters threatened to intensify their agitation if their demand is not fulfilled by March 24.

As the protesters went in a rally through the streets of the town, a few of them - Prakash Halembur, Mahesh Halembur, Virupaksha Gadgi, Jagadish Biradar, Somnath Mudholkar, Vinod Babla and Nagaraj - tried to set themselves on fire by pouring kerosene.

However, the other protesters and the police prevented them from taking the extreme step. Former ZP member D K Siddaram, who led the protest, asked how could the party field Bhagwant Khuba, who is not a familiar face in the district.