Nuzvid: The peaceful town of Nuzvid slipped into tension following clashes between YSR Congress and Congress workers on Wednesday. The trouble, which had been brewing for the past few days, took a serious turn on Wednesday when leaders of both parties prepared for an open debate on corruption. With situation not coming under control even after imposition of section 144 of IPC, police made house arrest of Congress MLC Paladugu Venkata Rao and took former legislator Meka Pratap Apparao of YSR Congress into custody in the evening.

The war of words between the arch-rivals -- Venkata Rao and Apparao -- had been going on for the past one week and reached a flashpoint when the latter challenged the former to an open debate at the Gandhi statue centre on Wednesday. While Venkata Rao alleged that Apparao was the most corrupt leader in Krishna district and accused him of stealing jewellery from famous Sobhanachala Swamy temple, Apparao said Venkata Rao misused funds collected for constructing a party office to set up a petrol bunk.

With both the leaders getting ready to wash their dirty linen in public, tension scaled to new heights in the town forcing the police to issue notices to both the leaders. Even as Venkata Rao was detained in the R&B guest house, Apparao gave the slip to the police by escaping from his house to reach the proposed venue for the debate. Apparao travelled on a motorbike to reach the Gandhi statue centre and challenged the MLC to come for the debate.

Stung by the development, Venkata Rao tried to come out of the guest house forcibly. With hundreds of followers from both the sides gathering at the centre, police hurriedly arrested Venkata Rao and shifted him to Reddigudem police station. Police dispersed the crowds by resorting to lathicharge.

Apparao, a member of the erstwhile royal family of Nuzvid, secured Congress ticket and got elected to the Assembly in 2004 elections. He, however, lost the subsequent elections due to infighting in Congress. With Venkata Rao taking centre stage in Nuzvid following the death of YSR, Apparao switched sides to YSR Congress leading to renewed fight between the two veteran leaders.

Meanwhile, local legislator Chinnam Ramakotaiah of TDP dubbed the actions of the veteran leaders as a "public stunt" saying that people knew well of their corrupt deeds and there was no need for any new debate on the issue.