Anti-Telangana stir pushes AP to the edge

The Seemandhra region was on the boil on the second day of the 48-hour bandh called to protest against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

Curfew was imposed on Vizianagaram town as agitators torched the District Central Cooperative Bank, damaged private vehicles and looted several shops, including a wine shop. According to range IG Dwaraka Tirumala Rao, the curfew will continue till normalcy returns to the home town of APCC chief Botsa Satyanarayana.

Throughout Saturday, protesters continued targeting properties of Satyanarayana and his relatives and set on fire Satya Cable Network, the Congress leader’s office. Police fired several rounds of teargas shells and resorted to lathi charge to disperse the mob, which damaged five police vehicles. Three protesters and a policeman were injured in the violence.

In Hyderabad, launching an indefinite fast at his Lotus Pond residence, YSR Congress president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy vowed to move the Supreme Court against the Union Cabinet’s “arbitrary” decision.

He accused Congress President Sonia Gandhi of splitting the state with the sole intention of making her son Rahul Gandhi the prime minister after the 2014 elections.

Power crisis in southern states cannot be ruled out as over 30,000 electricity employees, including 3,000 from the Narla Tata Rao Thermal Power Station (NTTPS), in Vijayawada, joined the strike. As production in power plants is affected, officials fear it might trigger a collapse of the southern grid. Senior officials have been struggling to keep thermal generation units up and running. Some districts in Andhra Pradesh faced load shedding on Saturday.

In Tirupati, students set on fire several vehicles parked at the SV University campus. They were protesting the arrests of leaders in view of Chief Minister N Kirankumar Reddy’s visit to Tirumala, to participate in Brahmotsavam.

Employees from Seemandhra continued their agitation at the state Secretariat by gathering on the roof top of D Block.

A counter demonstration was held by Telangana employees who alleged that Seemandhra employees are holding the Secretariat, which is meant for all the regions, to ransom.