The indefinite fast launched by YSR Congress district president Gudivada Amarnath demanding that the Central and State governments establish without further delay a separate railway zone for Andhra Pradesh with headquarters in Visakhapatnam as per the promise made in the State Reorganisation Act, was disrupted late on Sunday night.
Mr. Amarnath had been on fast for the last four days.
Tight security
A strong posse of policemen forcibly removed Mr. Amarnath from the fasting site, Tenneti Viswanadham Pranganam, near Gandhi statue and shifted him to KGH.
Earlier, Mr. Amarnath’s sugar level and blood pressure dropped.
Not many YSR Congress men were around when Mr. Amarnath was removed from the camp.
A strong police force was also deployed at KGH to avoid trouble.
The hospital’s gates were closed and policemen allowed vehicles inside only after checking them.
The government seemed to have taken the decision to force Mr. Amarnath to end his fast after it received support from opposition parties and people too, as they believed that a separate railway zone, divested from the East Coast Railway, would eliminate many problems.
Since the last few days, senior YSR Congress leaders and leaders of opposition parties and organisations had been calling on Mr. Amarnath and criticising the TDP and the BJP on the issue.
‘BJP, TD leaders failed’
On Sunday, firebrand YSR Congress leader R.K. Roja visited the fasting leader and attributed the delay in the announcement of the railway zone to the failure of the BJP and TDP MPs, and Union Ministers from the State.
“They (Union Ministers and ruling party MPs) have not taken up the cause in right earnest. The Chief Minister is only interested in purchasing MLAs from other parties,” she said.
Accident victims
She ridiculed Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao for participating in the Telugu film Sarainodu audio function instead of calling on the Nakkapalli road accident victims.
The Centre had released the list of top 100 universities in the country but not one institution from the State figured in it, which was a failure of the HRD Minister, she said.
The new railway zone would bring more jobs for the youth and new trains to the State, she added.
Jagan to continue fast?
Later, at a separate media conference, YSRC leader Botcha Satyanarayana said that an all-party meeting would be convened near the Gandhi-statue on Monday to chalk out the course of action.
He took a dig at MP K. Haribabu for hailing the allocation of a mere Rs.1 lakh for the Vizag Metro project.
YSRC president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, while reviewing the impact of the fast, reportedly told party leaders that he would continue the fast if Mr. Amarnath was forced to quit.
It has to be seen how Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy would react to the latest development.
