About two dozen members of the A.P. Non-Gazetted Officers Association were arrested by police as they picketed the office of the Accountant-General here on Friday.
The APNGOs association, that is spearheading the agitation for a unified State for the past five weeks, has brought the administration to a halt in Andhra and Rayalaseema regions since July 31. On Friday, they launched dharnas in front of Central Government offices.
Leaders arrested
Those arrested, included P.V.V. Satyanarayana, president of the Hyderabad unit of APNGOs Association. TDP MLAs Payyavula Keshav (Uravakonda) and T.V. Rama Rao (Kovvur) visited them and expressed solidarity.
They also held lunch-hour demonstrations outside the Secretariat and offices of the APTransco.
To chalk out action plan
At a press conference, APNGOs State president P. Ashok Babu said that all the constituents of the Joint Action Committee of Samaikhyandhra would take stock of the situation on September 16 and chalk out an action plan.
Regarding fears expressed in some quarters over the security of APNGOs association functionaries who were spending nights at the NGOs Home in Gunfoundry, he said that despite apprehensions, they were confident of tackling any threat.
“We politely declined police protection, saying we did not need it,” he added.