IANS

Hyderabad, Sep 6: Stepping up their campaign, followers of Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, son of late chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Sunday disrupted a condolence meeting at the Congress party headquarters here with their demand that he be made the next chief minister.

The meeting had to be abruptly ended due to the ruckus created by Jagan's followers, who were raising slogans against state Congress chief D. Srinivas, seen here as a contender for the chief minister's post.

Security personnel escorted acting Chief Minister K. Rosaiah, union minister S. Jaipal Reddy and other senior leaders to safety as Jagan's supporters tried to mob them at the meeting held at Gandhi Bhavan, the party headquarters.

Holding placards and posters of YSR -- as the late chief minister was popularly known -- and Jagan, the party activists did not allow Srinivas to speak, forcing him to hastily conclude the meeting. No leader could speak on the condolence resolution.

The trouble started soon after a condolence resolution was moved and Srinivas rose to speak. Slogans of "DS (D. Srinivas) down down" and "DS go back" disrupted his speech. When all the appeals to restore order fell on deaf ears, the party chief announced that the meeting was over.

Visibly upset over the turn of events, Rosaiah, Srinivas, Jaipal Reddy, former party presidents M. Satyanarayana Rao and Keshava Rao, former chief minister M. Bhaskara Rao and other leaders left the meeting hall.

Minutes later, YSR's long-time friend and Rajya Sabha member K.V.P. Ramchandra Rao entered the hall and made an emotional appeal to Jagan's supporters to remain calm. He broke down while recalling his association with the late leader.

"If you want his soul to rest in peace, please be calm," he appealed with folded hands.

"We may be physically separate but our soul is one," said Rao, recalling similar words of the late leader.

He appealed to Jagan's supporters not to harm him through their actions and said Congress president Sonia Gandhi would keep their sentiments in mind while taking a decision.

YSR's brother Y.S. Vivekanand Reddy too appealed to party workers to act with restrain.

Though order was restored for some time, the meeting did not resume as all the leaders had left the party headquarters.

Srinivas, Jaipal Reddy and Rosaiah are being seen as contenders for the chief minister's post.

YSR, his special secretary, chief security officer and two pilots were killed when the helicopter carrying them from Hyderabad to Chittoor crashed in bad weather in Nallamalla forests in Kurnool district Wednesday morning. The charred bodies and the wreckage of the chopper were found the next morning after one of the biggest search operations by Indian Air Force helicopters.