Over 500 Andhra Pradesh staff take out rally

Traders voluntarily down shutters against bifurcation of the State

A road in the city wears a deserted look as bandh was observed on Wednesday in protest against bifurcation of the State. Photos: V. Raju

The anti-Telangana bandh call evoked good response in Krishna district with people voluntarily closing shops and all kinds of educational and financial institutions. It was a near total bandh on Wednesday with RTC buses also not running for major part of the day, but no incidents of violence or destruction was reported from anywhere in the district. The traffic was disrupted for some time on the National Highway No.9 and the NH 5 and the 72-hour bandh began on an impressive note in Vijayawada on Wednesday. Various student organisations, employees’ associations and political parties took part in the bandh in protest against the division of the State. Dharnas, human chains, protests marked the day. Contrary to usual bandhs, the roads wore deserted look in the evening also and shops remained closed.

The bandh gained momentum by evening with NGOs taking out a rally from Tagore Library to Sub-Collector’s office.

About 500 government employees marched through lanes of the city covering Apsara, Raj Towers, and Museum Road before reaching the Sub-Collector’s office. Protestors burnt effigies at Gollapudi and Krishnalanka. Most of the shopkeepers on Bandar and Eluru Roads downed their shutters. The Besant Road, city’s commercial hub, was completely closed.

The students staged a rasta roko at Benz Circle, Siddhartha Junction near P. B. Siddhartha College and other places. The Congress party leaders formed a human chain near Police Control Room. The YSR Congress party leaders cleansed Potti Sriramulu’s statue near Prakasam Barrage with milk.

Except for second-rung leaders, former corporators, Congress city and district presidents, no other senior Congress leader or MLA was seen on the roads.

The security in front of the houses of elected representatives was beefed up. Congress city president Meesala Rajeswara Rao, former mayor M.V. Ratna Bindu and others took part in the agitation. YSR Congress Party leaders Jaleel Khan, Vangaveeti Radha, Gowtham Reddy Tadi Sakuntala and others raised slogans against AICC president Sonia Gandhi, PCC president B. Satyanarayana.

Mixed response

Condemning the UPA government’s decision, members of the APNGOs’ Association took out a rally. However, only educational institutions and government offices were shut down and there was no impact of the bandh as it received mixed response from people and political parties.