Andhra Pradesh Police have said all preventive measures have been put in place to avoid any untoward incident in the wake of the bandh call given by the Telangana Joint Action Committee (T-JAC) in the Telangana region on Saturday.
“Police are making all necessary arrangements to prevent agitators from indulging in violence during (Saturday’s) bandh in the Telangana region,” DGP R.R. Girish Kumar told reporters here.
Twenty four people, including eight policemen, were on Friday injured in violence that broke out during a tour of Congress MP Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy to Telangana, following which he was taken into preventive custody forcing him to abandon his week-long ‘Odarpu yatra’ which was to begin from Mahbubabad in Warangal district.
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Holding Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy responsible for the violence in Warangal, the T-JAC has called for the bandh in 10 districts of the Telangana region.
The DGP said pro-Telangana activists resorted to road blockades in Warangal and Nalgonda besides pelting stones on shops near Osmania University campus here.
Pro-Telangana activists took out a rally from Osmania University campus towards Tarnaka area and forcibly tried to close shops in the area, the DGP said.
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At some places they also threw stones and tried to damage shops, but the police intervened and ensured safety of the private properties, he said.
Similarly, protesting the detention of Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy, his followers in Tirupati and Kadapa staged road blockades and reportedly set two bogies of Padmavathi Express on fire.
In Kadapa district, Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy’s loyalists observed bandh and resorted to road blockades and demonstrations, police said.