Slogans rent air

• Rajahmundry reverberates with ‘Samaikyandhra’ slogans
• Vijayamma’s deeksha enters third day
• Nannapaneni, MLAs Palle, Amanchi, Nallapureddy, K Ramakrishna continue hunger strike
• Legislator CK Babu undertakes ‘padayatra’ to Tirumala
• Women tie ‘rakhis’ to T drivers in Nellore

Hyderabad: The Samaiky-andhra agitation on its 22nd day was intensified with thousands of students coming on to the roads in Rajahmundry. They undertook fasts, staged ‘rasta roko’demonstrations, dharnas and formed human chains. In Guntur district, the police forcibly ended Ponnur TDP MLA Dhulipalla Narendra’s four-day fast around midnight on Tuesday. Y S Vijayamma, YSRCP leader, continued her fast on the third day.

Rajahmundry: The town reverberated with ‘Samaikyandhra’ slogans as about 25,000 students held a rally, along with the Political and Student JACs’ members. They sang ‘Maa Telugu Talliki Mallepudanda’. Ghazal Srinivas rendered a song opposing the State’s division.

Tirupati: NGOs, RTC staff and other employees continued their strike on Wednesday. About 1,300 RTC buses, except those in Tirumala, were confined to depots for the ninth day.

Vijayawada: Advocates and the Law department staff joined the agitation, after boycotting courts.

Guntur: Telugu Desam leaders, including MLC N Rajakumari, S Aruna and Gurajala MLA Y Srinivasa Rao, continued their fasts for the third day. Government staff and people’s organisations held demonstrations.

‘Deeparadhana by women

Srikakulam: Women praying to God to keep the State united lit 1,000 diyas and performed ‘deeparadhana’ at Varasiddhi Vinayaka temple, here. They lit lamps to form ‘Samaikyandhra’ in Telugu. Students obstructed EAMCET counselling at B R Ambedkar University.

Novel protest

Visakhapatnam: In a novel protest, Samaikyandhra supporters held a demonstration holding snakes at Gazuwaka Circle. A snake-charmer made a snake bite portraits of Sonia Gandhi and KCR.

Anantapur: The fast of TDP legislator Palle Raghunatha Reddy and YSRCP leader Harikrishna continued. Doctors pleaded for calling off of their protest. Sugar levels of Palle fell causing anxiety. Teachers and employees tied black ribbons to the Telugu Talli statue.

Kadapa: About 13,000 teachers, both government and private, in the district are going on strike from the midnight of Wednesday, resulting in closure of all schools.

Rally by disabled

Ongole: Blind-folded municipal employees took out a motorbike rally here. In Darsi, blind-folded physically challenged persons held a rally. Lawyers boycotted courts.

Chittoor: Congress MLA CK Babu undertook a ‘padayatra’ to Tirumala in support of Samaikyandhra, with thousands of people following him.

More NGOs join strike

Nellore: The EAMCET counselling was affected as lecturers and NGOs boycotted. Women tied rakhies to truck drivers from Telangana, seeking their support for a united State. The fasts by MLAs N Prasanna Kumar Reddy and K Ramakrishna entered the third day.