Vijayawada: A bandh call given by the Telugu Desam for Monday to protest the arrest and subsequent judicial remand of its chief N. Chandrababu Naidu fell flat across the state, despite Jana Sena announcing its support for the bandh.
All local and interstate APSRTC buses, taxis, cabs and auto-rickshaws plied normally, as the majority of educational institutions held regular classes and markets remained open. In a few places, TD leaders and cadres raised slogans and burnt effigies, but overall, TD’s hope for public support was crushed.
The poor response extended to East Godavari, West Godavari, Konaseema, Kakinada, Anakapalli, Eluru, Alluri, Visakhapatnam and north Andhra, where TD has strong support. Even in Naidu’s home district of Chittoor, TD leaders struggled to mobilise masses for protests. The trend extended to Tirupati, Kurnool, Nandyal, Anantapur, Nellore, Annamayya, YSR Kadapa, Sri Satya Sai and other districts.
Sources said that TD ranks and files did not show much interest in the bandh call, as the APSRTC successfully ran 97 per cent of its services on the day. Of 7,287 bus services, APSRTC operated 7,081 buses by 10 am, with the respective numbers reported at 9,054 services and 8,774 buses at 2 pm.
Last-mile connectivity was also largely unhindered.
While cinema halls usually cancel their noon shows during bandh calls, such was not the case on Monday, as all entertainment centres operated normally.
TD leaders were perplexed over the poor presence of leaders to lead protests in its strongholds of Krishna, NTR, Gunture, Bapatla and Palnadu districts, where the party secured two of three Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 elections.
TD’s Vijayawada East MLA Gadde Rammohan, with few supporters, staged a protest at Pandit Nehru Bus Stand in Vijayawada, but the police foiled their bid to disrupt public transport by taking them into custody. Former MLA Bonda Umamaheswara Rao staged a protest at his Vijayawada residence, but there was no other protest of note.
In Guntur, TD leaders and Telugu Yuvatha leaders staged protests at the NTR Bus Stand and Manipuram Flyover, but they soon gave up as the public failed to join in and went about their usual business by opening shops and markets.
Guntur city Mayor Kavati Manohar Naidu also assured support for shopkeepers to operate as usual despite the bandh call.
TD leaders defended the poor response claiming that many leaders and cadres were put under house arrest.
The Jana Sena, which claims to have a huge following among the youth, also logged poor public presence as leaders and cadres stayed away from protest sites, despite party chief Pawan Kalyan on Sunday announcing support for the bandh.
