The opposition-sponsored bandh called to press for Special Category Status (SCS) for Andhra Pradesh disrupted bus services in Prakasam District on Saturday.
The APSRTC buses were confined to depots as the activists of the YSR Congress(YSRC), Communist Party of India(CPI) and CPI(Marxist) laid a siege to the APSRTC bus depot at dawn.
Tension gripped the area for sometime as the activists tried to deflate the tyres of some of the buses coming into the bus station. Police intervened and restored order.
The bus services were affected in, among other depots, Ongole, Chirala, Kandukur, Kanigiri and Markapur following the protest, RTC sources said.
The activists raised slogans against the BJP-TDP combine for ''inordinate delay'' in granting SCS and in support of their demand for release of liberal funds for development of backward areas in the state.
Leading the protest, YSRC State General Secretary Balineni Srinivasa Reddy asserted that the party would not rest till the Centre conceded the just demand of the State. He accused the BJP-led NDA of not fulfilling its constitutional obligation now after promising SCS for 10 years as against SCS for five years announced by the Congress party then. The TDP had mortgaged the State's interests to protect its political interests, he charged.
CPI District Secretary M.L. Narayana maintained that the ''SCS is Sanjeevini'' for the beleaguered State.
CPI(M) District Secretary P.Anjaneyulu said Special package cannot be a substitute for SCS. The State needed both SCS and Special development package to overcome the bifurcation blues.
