No let up in Seemandhra protests

There is no let up in the protests in Rayalaseema and Andhra regions of the state, a week after the centre decided to carve out separate Telangana state out of Andhra Pradesh.

For the seventh day in a row, protestors took to the streets and laid siege to the houses of elected representatives demanding their resignations to stall the process for formation of separate state.

While protests were on in almost all major towns of Seemandhra, as the two regions are collectively known, shutdown also continued in some places.

Opposing the state's division, students, political activists, employees, workers, lawyers, women and people from other sections of society took out rallies, staged road and rail blockades and formed human chains.

Police said the protests have largely been peaceful. However, reports of some people allegedly committing suicide or dying of 'shock' over bifurcation continued to trickle in.

A youth attempted self-immolation in East Godavari district Tuesday while a 40-year-old man, allegedly unable to accept state's division, died of cardiac arrest in West Godavari district.

All four districts of Rayalaseema and nine districts of coastal Andhra are witnessing protests to demand the centre to reverse its decision.

In Chittoor, police forcibly shifted local legislator C.K. Babu to hospital as he was on hunger strike for last six days. His supporters were arrested by the police when they resisted their attempt to shift him.

Andhra Pradesh Non-Gazetted Officers' Association laid siege to the house of central Minister Pannabaka Lakshmi in Nellore. The employees mobbed the house of YSR Congress party honorary president Y.S. Vijayamma at Pulivendula in Kadapa district, demanding her resignation from assembly.

Except Vijayamma, all other legislators of the party have already submitted their resignations to assembly speaker.

The government employees in Seemandhra have threatened to launch an indefinite strike from Aug 12, if all central and state ministers and MPs and state legislators failed to resign to mount pressure on the centre.

Shutdown continued in Anantapur district for the seventh consecutive day. Over 1,000 buses of state-owned Andhra Pradesh Road Transport Corporation remained off the roads. A similar situation prevailed in Kadapa district.

Educational institutions remained closed in Chittoor district. Cable TV operators stopped beaming entertainment channels while auto-rickshaw drivers also joined the protests for a united state.