Samaikyandhra protests persist across State

Hyderabad: Protests in support of Samaikyandhra continued to rage across Andhra and Rayalaseema regions, as the agitation entered the twenty first day on Tuesday. Governance and public transport took a hit as the strike by NGOs and RTC employees entered the eight day. The protesters disrupted counseling intended for students seeking to join engineering colleges at several places for the second consecutive day in 13 districts of the two regions.

The indefinite fast of YSR Congress Party honorary president Y S Vijayamma at Guntur entered the second day on Tuesday. Thousands of people thronged the venue of the fast and expressed their solidarity with her. Several YSRCP leaders were also present at the venue.

Indefinite and relay fasts continued at several places even as schools and colleges were closed down. People resorted to rasta rokos at several places, disrupting normal traffic. At Nadavapalli village of Katrenikona mandal in East Godavari, some agitators locked up teachers inside a school after sending out the students, since the school administrators had opened the institution in defiance of the bandh call. Teachers of private schools launched relay fasts at several places on Tuesday.

Government employees organized rasta roko on the national highways at several places, disrupting traffic. In Vijayawada, on three national highways leading towards Chennai, Howrah, Machilipatnam and Hyderabad, there were protests that hit traffic on the high-intensive corridor for several hours. They barricaded the highway by sitting on dharna at Kanaka Durga Varadhi, Benz Circle, Gollapudi bypass road and Ramavarapadu ring road, blocking the highways towards Chennai, Howrah, Hyderabad and Machilipatnam.

Samaikyandhra agitators intensified their movement in East Godavari district by organizing rasta roko on the National Highway at Ravulapalem on Tuesday, blocking traffic for about 20 km between Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada. Ravulapalem, which is the gateway of Konaseema, transformed into sea of humanity as about 20,000 people from every nook and corner of Konaseema turned up for the rasta roko staged at Kala Venkata Rao centre. Government employees, students, teachers and common people took out a rally on thousands of bikes from different parts of Konaseema from the early hours of Tuesday.

Hundreds of agitators with Samaikyandhra map and Telugu Thalli printed on white flags rode towards Ravulapalem. The agitators prevented movement of vehicles by parking their bikes across the road since morning. The movement of heavy vehicles between Kolkata and Chennai was stopped. Minister for Animal Husbandry Viswaroop and Kothapeta MLA Bandaru Satyananda Rao from Congress and several YSRCP and TDP leaders took part in the programme. They later organized “Vanta-Vaarpu” on the National Highway.

In Puttaparthi of Anantapur district, the health condition of TDP MLA Palle Raghunath Reddy who is on indefinite strike has deteriorated. His blood and sugar levels have fallen. Doctors, who are monitoring his health condition said that the MLA needed immediate hospitalization. In Kurnool also students of private educational institutions organized a huge rally in Kurnool demanding that the state should stay united.

In Tirupati, prominent singer Ghazal Srinivas organised a Simha Garjana, which was attended by about 20 thousand people supporting Samaikyandhra. Addressing the gathering, he complimented TDP polit buro member Nandamuri Harikrishna for coming out in support of Samaikyandhra and said he was a worthy son of great father NTR who always stood for a united Andhra Pradesh. He entertained the people with his songs.

Meanwhile, Telugu Desam legislators Dhulipala Narendra, Nannapaneni Raja Kumari, Y Srinivas Rao, Palle Raghunath Reddy and K Ramakrishna continued their indefinite fasts in support of the Samaikyandhra. The YSR Congress MLA Prasanna Kumar Reddy and wife of Rayadurgam MLA Kapu Ramachandra Reddy’s wife Bharati also continued fast to protest the bifurcation of the State.

Some devotees broke five thousand coconuts at the shrine of Pydithalli Amma in Vizianagaram praying that the Congress and Telangana leaders should change their hearts and support a united State. The agitators blocked the National Highway and conducted Vanta-Vaarpu, disrupting traffic towards Odisha at several places in Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts.