Shutdown in parts of AP, normal life hit

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Students and teachers take an oath at a school in Tirupati on Wednesday against the creation of Telangana. — PTI

Widespread protests were witnessed in several parts of Andhra and Rayalaseema regions with people taking to streets, organising rallies, demonstrations and burning tyres and effigies of UPA leaders as part of the bandh being observed on Wednesday by different outfits.
Normal life was disrupted as educational institutions and commercial establishments remained closed and the services of state-run Andhra Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) were suspended in Kadapa, Chittoor, Visakhapatnam and Krishna. The agitators squatted on roads to prevent the buses from plying.
Two persons, including a home guard, reportedly committed suicide in Vizianagaram and Guntur districts protesting the move to divide the state.
At some places like Eluru, incidents of violence were reported, with protesters attacking a private educational institution and government offices, damaging furniture and setting private vehicles on fire.
Educational institutions remained shut across Andhra-Rayalaseema while lawyers boycotted work at many places.
Tension prevailed in Anantapur district after police lobbed teargas shells on Samaikhyandhra protesters who pelted them with stones.
Hundreds of slogan-raising protesters took to streets and pelted stones on policemen near Arts College and other parts of Anantapur town, prompting the police to fire teargas shells. “The situation is tense but under control. We had to fire teargas shells to disperse the protesters following stone pelting,” a senior police official told PTI over phone from Anantapur town.
The protesters also allegedly damaged statues of former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi at a few places, besides ransacking a Mandal Revenue office (MRO) in Anantapur, he said adding the agitators also attacked offices of BJP with stones and tried to lay siege to the residence of state revenue minister Raghuveera Reddy.
The police chased away the protesters at many places in the town and some of them have also been taken into custody, he said.
In Vijayawada, students gathered at squares and held road blockades to protest the decision to partition the state.
President of Vijayawada Chamber of Commerce and Industry Velampalli Ramachandra Rao told PTI that commercial establishments were closed as traders supported the shutdown. Government employees also supported the bandh call. The Bar Association of Vijayawada appealed to its members not to attend courts. In Visakhapatnam, “Samaikyandhra” students’ Joint Action Committee (JAC) and various other organisations held protests. Students’ JAC leader Lagudu Govinda, who launched a hunger strike on the Andhra University campus last night, said his agitation would continue till the Congress high command reversed its decision.