Man who set himself afire for Andhra special status dies

A man who attempted self-immolation demanding special status to Andhra Pradesh succumbed at a private hospital in Chennai on Sunday, police said.

M.Kamakoti, 41, had set himself ablaze on Saturday in Tirupati in Andhra's Chittoor district during a protest organized by the Congress to seek special status to the state.

Raising slogans of 'Congress party zindabad' and demanding special status to Andhra Pradesh, he had poured kerosene and set himself ablaze.

Kamakoti suffered 95 percent burns and was admitted to Ruia Hospital in Tirupati. He was later shifted to CMC in Vellore and from there to KMC Hospital in Chennai.

Chief Minister N.Chandrababu Naidu expressed deep anguish about the death.

In a statement, Naidu extended condolences to Kamakoti's family members. Stating that their families and the society needs them the most, he made an appeal to the people to not resort to any such drastic steps.

"I'm confident that the centre will grant special status to our state. But, it is my sincere request to the people of Andhra Pradesh to not be driven by emotion or resort to any extreme steps," he said.

Congress' Andhra Pradesh unit president Raghuveera Reddy on Saturday announced Rs.2 lakh as relief to Kamakoti's family.

He appealed to party workers not to sacrifice their lives and instead get ready for a massive struggle against Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government, which, he accused, of not having lobbied hard enough with the central government to achieve special category status to the state.