The bandh organised in the Seemandhra, region to protest against bifurcation, was partial and peaceful in the district on Friday.
Normal life remained unaffected as RTC buses and autorickshaws operated as usual and shops were kept open. Schools and colleges, barring a few, functioned as usual. Rallies and ‘rasta rokos’ were organised at various junctions by YSR Congress and Telugu Desam party workers and leaders. Rallies were taken out by YSRC activists under the leadership of party leaders Vamsi Krishna Srinivas and Zaheer Ahmed. A rastaroko was staged under the leadership of YSRC leader G.V. Ravi Raju at Gurudwara junction for sometime.
The Fourth Town Police arrested Ravi Raju and some other party activists. A rally was taken out by TDP activists under the leadership of Visakhapatnam East MLA Velagapudi Ramakrishna Babu. They forced the closure of shops on the way. A rally was taken out by YSRC activists under the leadership of Kola Guruvulu and a protest was held by TDP activists under the leadership of Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar.
Lawyers boycott courts Advocates boycotted courts on Friday and participated in the bandh to keep Andhra Pradesh united. Bar Association secretary Nammi Sanyasi Rao, president of the Forum of Legal Professionals Kuppili Muralidhar, advocates S.V. Ramana, Cheemalapati Sekhar, Sanapala Muralikrishna and Lakshmi Radhika were among those who participated. The relay hunger strike being observed by the lawyers continued for the 157th day on Friday.
Students and youths, under the aegis of Samaikyandhra Student JAC, held up traffic on the National Highway for sometime on Friday. JAC State president Adari Kishore said that the JAC leaders would go to Hyderabad and express solidarity with MP s from Seemandhra, who were staging a dharna for united Andhra Pradesh. The bandh was peaceful and successful in Anakapalle and Narsipatnam.
