Tension once again gripped Ippatam village in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh on Saturday after municipal authorities resumed demolition, evoking strong protest from the local residents.

The authorities razed the boundary walls of 12 houses with bulldozers while police personnel were deployed in large numbers to prevent any untoward incident.

The police had also deployed personnel at the entry points into the village and were allowing people only after checking their identification.

The action by the municipal authorities angered the villagers, who alleged that they were being targeted. Ignoring the protest, the officials carried on with their work.

Tension mounted after the officials moved to demolish the house of Jana Sena Party’s village president Narasimha Rao.

After a huge protest by the villagers, the officials left after demolishing the boundary wall.

The villagers questioned the officials about what they intended to achieve by expanding the existing road when the village had no public transport facility.

Meanwhile, Jana Sena Party (JSP) leader N. Manohar termed the demolition as vendetta politics of the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government.

He alleged that the ruling party is targeting the villagers just because they had given their land for a JSP meeting.

This is the second time that the municipal authorities have taken up demolition in the village.

In November last year, a few houses were demolished. Actor and JPS leader Pawan Kalyan had visited the village to show solidarity with the villagers.

He had alleged that houses of Jana Sena supporters were demolished.

He had alleged that the YSRCP government headed by Jagan Mohan Reddy is targeting the villagers for giving their lands for holding Jana Sena formation day public meeting on March 14, 2022.

He said when the ruling party leaders were threatening people in Amaravati not to cooperate with Jana Sena for its public meeting, villagers of Ippatam came forward to give their lands.