Bandh evokes good response in Nellore
The CPI, CPM leaders extended their support to the bandh
Nellore / Ongole / Kurnool: In response to a bandh call given by the YSR Congress to mount pressure on the Central and state governments to accord special category status to AP, all the shops, banks, insurance companies, BSNL and educational institutions were closed in Ongole on Saturday. Bandh evoked a good response in the district. RTC bus services were off the road.
The police took MP Y.V. Subba Reddy, former minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy, YSRC leader K.V. Ramana Reddy into custody while they were trying to stop the RTC buses at the bus stand here. Earlier, the YSRC leaders staged a dharna at the Collectorate and 16 activists, including Gottipati Bharat, were arrested in Martur.
Speaking on this occasion, Mr Subba Reddy said that Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had failed to mount pressure on Centre for special status for political mileage. BJP promised special status to AP for 10 years. Now, it is maintaining silence.
The YSRC leaders took out rally and enforced bandh. YSRC leaders staged a dharna at Addanki and Kandukur RTC Bus Stand to mount pressure on the Centre. The CPI, CPM leaders extended their support to the bandh and took out a rally demanding special status to AP.
There was good response for bandh in Nellore district. The YSRC MLAs went to RTC bus stand and stopped the RTC buses at 4 am on Saturday. All the shops and business establishments remained closed.
Meanwhile, YSRC leaders staged a rasta roko at the Nellore RTC Bus Stand and raised slogans against Mr Chandrababu Naidu for his failure to get special status. The police took MLAs Ramreddy Prathap Kumar Reddy, Gudur MLA Pasam Sunil Kumar into custody while they were protesting.
Elsewhere in Kurnool, bandh ended with no untoward incidents. The Left parties extended support to YSRC and participated in the bandh. The activists enforced the bandh throughout the district. Around 920 buses were confined to 11 depots in the district. All the government offices, educational institutions, shopping malls remained closed. Even the autos are also not allowed ply in city limits.
Around 102 activists were taken into custody. In addition to this, Section 151 (preventive custody) was enforced on Kurnool MP and MLA.
To avert unavoidable incidents, precautionary measures were taken by deploying large number of police force, said superintendent of police A. Ravi Krishna. Mr Krishna said officers were alerted to closely monitor the activists. In addition to the regular forces in Kurnool, 4 APSP platoons were also deployed.