JOIN USActivists led by Left parties and the Special Category Status Sadhana Samithi protested against the day-long fast undertaken by BJP leaders across Andhra Pradesh on Thursday.
In Vijayawada, Eluru, Bhimavaram and Visakhapatnam, the agitators were taken into police custody as they came into blows with the BJP activists.
In several places, TDP legislators and workers undertook padayatras (march) protesting against BJP leaders' hunger strike.
Alleging the ruling TDP's hand in these attacks, BJP spokesperson G V L Narasimha Rao, who sat on a fast in Vijayawada Dharna Chowk, has said that permission to hold the day-long fast in Lenin Centre was denied on the behest of the TDP.
State BJP president Kambhampati Haribabu in Visakhapatnam has said that Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu and Police Commissioner Yoganand have provided moral support to the attackers.
"The fascist nature of left parties has once again came into fore," he said.
Meanwhile, Naidu while speaking with the party ministers in Amaravati and later at the inaugural ceremony of Andhra Pradesh Police Technology Centre, has warned the prime minister that the war has just begun.
"I don't see any difference between the British rulers and BJP. Have you ever seen a prime minister going on hunger strike, holding people responsible for his inability to run the Parliament," Naidu said.
He called upon the people of the state to teach Modi a lesson.
"The fight for SCS will go on. But strikes and agitations will hurt the state," he said.
Meanwhile, the SCS Sadhana Samithi gave a call for a state-wide bandh on April 16 to protests against the BJP government's stand on granting special status.
The Samithi, which has found support in YSRCP and Left Parties, has however said that all emergency services will run as usual.