State gears up for Telangana bandh

Even as the Telangana Sadhana Joint Action Committee (JAC) is all set to enforce a bandh tomorrow pressing for a separate statehood to Telangana, the students at Osmania University have ‘urged’ the people to boycott New Year celebrations in support of separate state.

The JAC members on Tuesday disrupted a meeting of Lok Satta chief Jayaprakash Narayan with his party corporators. They demanded that he spell out his party stand on a separate Telangana. The wordy duel ended after police intervened.

Telangana Rashtra Samithi legislator T Harish Rao said buses and trains would be stopped tomorrow as part of the bandh call.

The Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation suspended long distance bus services from tonight itself and would stall all operations in the region tomorrow. The police, on the other hand, had clamped Section 144 in the city.

Meanwhile, the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh has taken exception to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s remarks that “regionalism” posed a threat to the country.

TD politburo member Nagam Janardhan Reddy and others said the Congress high command had “insulted” the ministers from Telangana by not granting them an audience when they visited New Delhi to seek a clarification on the separate statehood to Telangana.

The TD reiterated its demand that all the Telangana Congress ministers and MPs tender their resignations. They asked the students and other Telangana supporters to not resort to violence in view of the bandh.

Nagam said the way new Governor ESL Narasimhan was taking stock of the political situation raised doubts over imposition of President’s rule in Andhra Pradesh.

P Sabita Reddy, who resigned as home minister along with other ministers, today refrained from attending the law and order review meeting with chief minister K Rosaiah.

She drew flak after she attended the review meeting with the new Governor yesterday.