The Andhra Pradesh bandh called by the YSR Congress and supported by other Opposition parties demanding Special Category Status for Andhra Pradesh was partial and peaceful on Tuesday. Leaders and activists of the Opposition were arrested while they were trying to prevent the Andhra Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) buses at several places.
While most educational institutions told students that there would be no classes because of the bandh, other establishments remained closed or downed shutters in many places. In some places Opposition party activists who escaped arrest went around forcing business and other establishments to shut down. Cinemas cancelled morning shows in Guntur. Leaders of YSRCP, Left parties and Congress were arrested in Kurnool, Guntur, Srikakulam and Vijayawada.
YSR Congress and Left parties reached the RTC Depot in Srikakulam as early as 4 a.m. This forced the RTC to cancel some services but skeletal services were resumed after the police came and rounded up the activists. While the bandh was peaceful in most places, there was tension in a few areas where the police rounded up large number of activists and important leaders.
Several state leaders of the YSR Congress party, including MLAs and MLCs, were taken into custody while they were participating in the bandh.
1,000 taken into custody
The police took into custody over 1,000 people in Srikakulam. Tension prevailed at the Srikakulam RTC depot when the police tried to arrest former Minister Tammineni Sitaram. The activists argued and resisted, but the police finally had their way and took Mr. Sitaram into custody.
In Guntur, YSR Congress Party leaders including Guntur East MLA Sk. Mustafa and city unit president Lella Appireddy were taken into custody as they were trying to enforce a bandh at the NTR Bus Station Complex. CPI(M) state assistant secretary Muppala Nageswara Rao and district secretary Jangala Ajay Kumar were also arrested. In Kurnool, Panyam YSRCP MLA Gauru Charitha Reddy was arrested. There was high drama in Ongole when activists, who laid siege to the bus depot at dawn, offered stiff resistance to police personnel who bundled them into waiting police vans.
The bandh observed in all the major towns of Krishna district, Chittoor and Nellore was peaceful. The YSRCP and the Left party leaders took out mass rallies during the bandh. A complete bandh was observed in the Krishna district headquarters of Machilipatnam and in Gudivada, Nuzvid, Pamarru and Vuyyuru, where all the business establishments and educational institutions remained closed till the evening. However, the APSRTC managed to run services to various destinations, including Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad from these places.
