Unique protests mark agitation

Folk artistes, swimmers draw crowds; Agriculture employees sow paddy on the road; YSRCP leaders pull rickshaws

Rajahmundry: The agitation against bifurcation of the State intensified in Rajahmundry on Wednesday. For a change, folk artistes and various couriers in the town organised a fancy dress show during their rallies. Agriculture Department employees sowed saplings on the middle of the roads and rallies were taken out peacefully. All the government offices and business establishments remained closed. RTC buses were confined to the depots. Passengers who came to Rajahmundry were stranded and trains became the only source of travel for those who had to go to far-off places. The APEPDCL employees took out a half-naked rally on the roads protesting against division of the State.

Folk artistes, led by Vibhooti Srinivasa Raju, started off with fancy dress shows and folk arts like ‘Burra Katha’ and ‘Oggu Katha’ were performed. Artists sang parodies against Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leader K Chandrasekhar Rao. The artistes took out the rally from Satellite City to Kotipalli Bus Stand and reached Kotagummam via main road. A large crowd gathered to have a glimpse of this troupe with Alluri Sitarama Raju being enacted by Y Srinivas, Alluri junior by Pavan Kalyan, Gandhi by Jayasankar, KCR by Prem Kumar, Telugu Talli by Vijayalakshmi, Lord Krishna by Kamala Priya, Veerapandya Kattabrahmana by V Syamprasad, ‘Burra Katha’ by V Balurao and brothers.

The Godavari Swimmers Club on Wednesday morning organised swimming in which more than 100 persons participated. They displayed a huge banner in support of Samikyandhra in a motorboat. Some others started swimming from Pushkar Ghat to Rail-cum-Road Bridge near Goutama Ghat. Women and children also participated in the swimming. The other attraction on Wednesday was ‘Vari Natlu on Road’ (sowing) by employees of Agriculture Department. The women employees stared sowing at the four road corner in front of Pushkar Ghat Siva Lingam, which drew hundreds of spectators.

TDP party workers organised ‘Vanta-Varpu’ at Azad Chowk on Wednesday. Leaders of all the 50 divisions and women workers took part in the programme, led by TDP State secretary Gorantla Butchayya Choudary. The TDP cadres cooked food and had lunch on the road. A two-line rickshaw rally organised by YSR Congress Party MLC Adireddy Apparao took centre stage. The MLC and his party leaders TK Visweswara Reddy and Bommana Rajkumar drove rickshaws symbolising that they would have to pull rickshaws if the State was divided.