United Andhra supporters step up protests after UPA nod for Telangana

Hyderabad/Vijayawada: As the Congress moves to bite the Telangana bullet, supporters of united Andhra Pradesh today stepped up protests against any division of the state. Students, employees and other supporters of united Andhra Pradesh staged protests in Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions amid indications that the ruling Congress would take a decision in favour of separate Telangana. [caption id=“attachment_998061” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Image for representation only. Reuters[/caption] The students’ Joint Action Committee (JAC), which organised a march in the port town of Visakhapatnam, demanded that legislators from the non-Telangana regions resign from their posts to mount pressure on the Centre. The protesters held a rally in Eluru, the Lok Sabha constituency of Union Minister K S Rao, in support of the united Andhra cause. In Kurnool, lawyers boycotted courts and held a demonstration. Kurnool is represented in Lok Sabha by Union Minister of State for Railways K Jayasuryaprakash Reddy. Students from various educational institutes took out a rally in Vijayawada to protest possible bifurcation of AP. Over 3,000 students, including girls, from various colleges, under Joint Action Committee banner, staged a ‘rasta roko’ near the Indira Gandhi Municipal Stadium in Vijayawada. The students’ JAC leaders said the Union Government should not concede the demand of bifurcating the state made by some political leaders for their “selfish motive” at the cost of crores of Telugu people. They demanded that people’s representatives from all political parties resign from their posts. A number of public and private sector employees from various organisations, trade union leaders and advocates joined the rally. Meanwhile, Congress MLAs from Rayalaseema would meet tomorrow to discuss their future course of action. “Yes, Congress MLAs from Rayalaseema (are meeting),” state Minor Irrigation Minister T G Venkatesh told PTI in Hyderabad. To a query, he said all issues including whether the leaders from Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra would quit their posts on the Telangana issue, would be discussed at the meet. Meanwhile, main Opposition TDP sought to know why the Centre did not table the Srikrishna Committee’s report on Telangana in Parliament for discussion. PTI