Andhra Pradesh shuts down over protest for Special Status

Protesting against the indifference of the State and Central governments in according Special Status to Andhra Pradesh, the YRS Congress Party called a bandh across the state, which was successfully implemented.

The YSR Congress strongly condemned the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government for its repressive tactics by the way senior leaders and cadres were arrested across the state.

'People from all sections of the society, organisations, left parties, student organizations joined the bandh in large numbers . Jittered by the surge of response to the Bandh the government has imposed Section 144 and used repressive methods to scuttle the bandh,' party leader Ummareddy Venkateswarlu told the media here.

The bandh was implemented successfully in Krishna, Guntur, East and West Godavari, Prakasam, Nellore, Ananthapuram, Kurnool, Kadapa, Chittoor, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts where shops and establishments and educational institutions were closed and people who are deeply upset by the Governments lack of commitment to fight for the special status came in to join the bandh voluntarily in large numbers.

'Special Package is not an alternative to special status. This message was conveyed to the nation loud and clear with clarity and conviction and the arrests only show the cowardice of the State government which has lost its reason,' Venkateswarlu said.

There were reports that a cabinet meeting was held which seems to have sent a message to the official machinery that the bandh should be foiled at any cost or the officials have to face consequences.

In Krishna district former minister K Parasarathi and former MLA Vangaveeti Radha were arrested while they were holding a dharna at RTC depot and students who rushed to the Chief Minister's camp office were dragged out and pushed into a police van.

In Nellore distirct MP Mekapati Rajmohan Reddy was arrested and in Prakasam district, G Ravi was arrested at Addanki and cadre was arrested at Chirala bus depot.

In Visakhaptnam district, Party General Secretary Vijay Sai Reddy along with other leaders was arrested while they were holding dharna at Jagadamba centre. MLA G Eshwari was arrested at Paderu while hundreds of party workers were taken into custody at S Kota.

In Guntur district MLAs A Ramakrishna Reddy (Mangalagiri) and P Ramakrshna Reddy (Macherla) were arrested. In Chittoor district party MLA Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy was arrested at Tirupati while former MLA B Karunakar Reddy was also arrested in the temple town.

Other leaders who were held or put on house arrest include Amjad Basha (Kadapa), former MLA Gurnath Reddy, K Venkatrami Reddy (Ananthauram), B Rajsekhar Reddy (Kurnool), MLA Kalavathi (Vizianagaram).