A week after the Congress Working Committee deciding to create Telangana, normal life remained affected in most parts of Rayalaseema and Andhra regions of the State.
As shops, business establishments, public transport and educational institutions remained closed in most of the 13 districts, the Government administration has been hit badly as the employees have also joined the protest.
The echo of the fight for and against Telangana was heard from the State to New Delhi. Parliament’s Monsoon Session was disrupted for the second consecutive day on Tuesday with the MPs from Seema-Andhra regions shouting slogans against the division. MPs from the Congress as well as the TDP joined hands to raise their voice.
The Rajya Sabha witnessed bitter exchanges between two Congress MPs JD Seelam of Andhra and P Govardhan Reddy of Telangana. Reddy touched a raw nerve of Andhra politicians when he said that all the Andhrites will have to go back from Hyderabad.
In Telangana, the simmering tensions between the employees of Telangana and Seema-Andhra regions also came to the fore with both holding demonstrations against each other in the same offices.
In Hyderabad, the headquarters of power and water departments were rocked by the slogan-shouting by the rival groups. The situation turned ugly in Vidyut Soudha (power utility headquarters) when a senior TDP leader from Rayalaseema P Keshav visited the place to show his solidarity with the agitating Andhra employees. Angered over his presence, the
protesting employees of Telangana region attempted to assault him. They were restrained by the police.
There were demonstrations at Jala Soudha, the headquarters of irrigation department, also. Tension rose as the rival groups shouted
slogans against each other. The police took the APNGO leaders into custody.
Common people in Seema-Andhra regions were suffering acutely as shops and businesses remain shut for the seventh day. Similarly, commuters were also put to a lot of hardship as the buses were not moving. RTC has suffered huge losses of more than Rs 100 crore as buses were confined to the depots. In Anantapur alone, 1,000 buses were in the depots.
Even other vehicles were not freely moving as the protesters had blocked the roads. The Chennai highway was closed in Ongole. Farmers blocked another important road in Bapatla. The highway linking Hyderabad to Vijaywada was blocked at Nandigama in Krishna district creating massive traffic jams. Doctors and
medical students also joined the stir and took out a procession in Vijaywada. In Anantapur, agitators stopped New Delhi-Bangalore KK Express. The police and the paramilitary forces used force to clear the tracks and arrested the protesters.
The TV screens remained dark in most of the households across the two regions as cable operators observed a 24-hour strike.
In a big blow to the administration, the power employees have stopped issuing electricity bills to the consumers and launched a pen-down strike.
In Chitoor, the home district of Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, police broke the six-day-old fast of local MlA CK Babu and shifted him to a local hospital in view of his worsening condition.
Houses of several politicians and Union Ministers continued to be targeted. In Nellore, residences of senior BJP leader M Venkaiah
Naidu and Union Minister Panabaka lakshmi were besieged. In Kadapa, State Minister C Ramachandaraiah was targeted.
The United Andhra Pradesh Joint Action Committee has announced future course of action to further intensify the agitation. At a meeting held at the Acharya Nagarjuna University in Guntur, they chalked out various programmes. On August 7 and 8, the protesters will lay a siege to all Government offices in the two regions followed by a Rail Roko (train blockade) on August 9 and 10. There will be two-day hunger strike on August 11 and 12 followed by laying a siege to the houses of all the MPs, MlAs and Ministers who failed to resign on August 13 and 14.
Meanwhile, the anti-Telangana groups continued their behind-the-scene lobbying in New Delhi. A group of Andhra Ministers including D Purandeshwari, JD Seela, Pallam Raju, Chiranjeevi and Panabaka lakshmi met Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram and urged him to ensure that a decision acceptable to all the regions was taken by the Central Government. “Chidambaram heard us attentively and assured us that the issues and concerns of Andhra-Seema people will be taken into account.”