A call has been given by various organisations, propounding the cause of an integrated Andhra Pradesh, to observe a bandh all over Seemandhra on Wednesday.
Samaikhyandhra leaders and activists staged protests at various places in the city on Tuesday evening in protest against the decision of the Congress Working Committee and the UPA on formation of a separate Telangana state. The Samaikhyandhra leaders broke coconuts at Sri Sampath Vinayaka temple at Asilametta against bifurcation.
Rallies, human chains and ‘rasta rokos’ were organised by Samaikhyandhra activists and leaders. The leaders were arrested by the police when they burnt effigies of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. They appealed to the people to observe a total bandh in the city on Wednesday.
The AP Private Schools Association state president K.S.N. Murthy appealed to all schools and other educational institutions to observe the bandh.
Earlier in the evening, a massive rally was organised at Maddilapalem by the National Mazdoor Union (NMU) of APSRTC on Tuesday to protest against the bifurcation of the State. NMU State joint secretary Y. Srinivasa Rao called upon the Ministers and MLAs from Seemandhra to resign to protest against bifurcation. He said already injustice was done to north Andhra as all the investments were made in Hyderabad at the cost of other regions.
A ‘retrograde’ step
Praja Spandana president C.S. Rao described the bifurcation of the State as a ‘retrograde step’ which would destabilise not only AP but also the entire country. It was nothing but stirring up a hornet’s nest as similar demands would arise from other parts of the country.
He recalled how Chenna Reddy, who was then unemployed, had first started the agitation for a separate Telangana in 1969 but it was firmly put down with an iron hand by the former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. During the last 30 years, sizeable investments were pumped in various sectors in Hyderabad. It could be the bone of contention between people of the two regions and result in quarrels among them.
A human chain was organised by the Telugu Shakti at Jagadamba junction against bifurcation. Kalinga Vysya Sangam president Ladi Kishore Kumar, Telugu Shakti activists G. Jagadish, Tummidi Rajkumar, Dasari Ramesh and Shankar were among those who participated.
YSRC protest
Traffic was disrupted for sometime at Gurudwara junction on Tuesday with a group of YSR Congress activists staging a rasta roko in protest against Congress Working Committee’s decision to form Telangana.
Fast launched
Student leaders, owing allegiance to the Samaikhyandhra Student JAC, launched a hunger strike in front of the Gandhi statue in Andhra University on Tuesday night.
