Bandh in Andhra Pradesh for special tag

 

Private colleges and schools have announced a holiday on Tuesday in view of strike call. 

The suicide of B. Muni Koti, who set himself on fire in Tirupati on Saturday and breathed his last on Sunday, for special status to AP has galvanised the entire Opposition which has seized upon the issue. Monday saw protests in some form or the other across the state, the most notable being in Vijayawada and Tirupati, and in New Delhi. 

 

Activists of the Left parties, Congress and YSRC also staged protests in East and West Godavari

 and Visakhapatnam districts also. In Vijayawada, CPI activists led by Donepudi Shankar went around the city, requesting the people’s cooperation. He appealed to the people to teach a fitting lesson to the TD and BJP for failing to provide special status to AP. The CPM too appealed to the people to make the bandh a success. CPM leader Ch Babu Rao requested the people to speak up against the state government’s stance vis-à-vis the special status. 

 

CPI and CPM state secretaries K. Ramakrishna and P. Madhu respectively also asked the people to take part in strike and exert pressure on the Central and state governments. They accused the Union ministers of making contradictory statements on the issue. The city Congress plans a mammoth rally, to be led by Devineni Avinash, from SRR College over the issue on Tuesday. 

 

Though a majority of the YSRC leaders were in Delhi to participate in the party’s protest led by party chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, the party made its presence in Vijayawada felt by staging protests.

 

Meanwhile, Students Federation of India state secretary D. Ramu and All India Youth Federation (AIYF) state president Navaneetam Sambasiva Rao also called upon the people to participate in the bandh. Private colleges and schools also announced a one-day holiday on Tuesday in view of strike call.