Vijayawada: The second day of bandh called by the Telugu Desam in Krishna district against?the Union Cabinet giving its nod to the Telangana Bill was partial.
Most traders?opened their shops in the afternoon while RTC services were restored by 10 am. While some of the educational institutions functioned, theatres, government and private offices and banks remained opened in the city.
The bandh was partial in other parts of the district. Except for the protest rallies by both the TD and the YSR Congress, there was no?response to the bandh at several places. RTC services were operated from several depots.
At Jaggaiahpet, a torchlight procession was organised under the leadership of YSRC district convener Samineni Udayabhanu.
In view of Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy’s public meeting in Vijayawada in the evening, the police increased its patrolling and prevented the protesters from blocking the roads. This cleared the way for the large number of farmers from Krishna , Guntur, Prakasam and West Godavari districts reach the city by RTC buses and private vehicles.
Earlier, TD leaders and activists, led by party district president Devineni?Umamaheswara Rao and former MP Gadde Rammohan staged rasta roko on the National?Highway near RTC bus stand to prevent buses from plying.
Due to the rasta roko, traffic on the National Highway came to?standstill for several hours. Later, the police arrested the TD leaders and shifted them to a police station.
Addressing the protesters, Umamaheswara Rao came down heavily on the UPA government for deciding to bifurcate the state. He said that the Congress high command failed to respect the sentiments of a majority of the people and described the bifurcation decision as “unilateral”.
Umamaheswara Rao said that the agitation would be continued till the Centre rolls back its decision. The TD leaders took out a protest rally against state bifurcation and organised a Sava yatra of UPA government.
