TDP moves in to counter Telangana fire

Protests against the Centre's nod to initiate the process for the formation of the Telangana state still continue.

Anti-Telangana activists stopped the Thiruvanthapuram-Hyderabad Sabari Express at Guntur on Tuesday morning.

In another act of violence, a clash took place between the police and the students at S K University in Anantpur.

Rallies, hunger strikes and other forms of protests and demonstrations are being held in almost all districts of the non-Telangana region, as they oppose the bifurcation of the state.

The Joint Action Committee, a group spearheading the campaign for a united Andhra, has said that the shutdown would continue.

Congress MLAs from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema region marched to the Secretariat from the Andhra assembly to mark the death of Potti Sriramulu, who died in 1952 sitting on a fast unto death demanding a separate Telugu state.

Meanwhile, around 50 Telugu Desam Party MLAs -- belonging to the coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema region -- met Andhra assembly Speaker N Kiran Kumar Reddy and requested him to accept their resignations.

It is speculated that this seems to be strategy of the TDP to force by-elections in the state.

Earlier, cutting across party lines, 146 MLAs resigned in a 294-member assembly refusing to accept the Centre's nod for initiating the process of the formation of the Telangana state. Of these, 80 are from the Congress, 50 from the TDP and 16 from Chiranjeevi's Praja Rajyam Party.

A meeting of the Andhra cabinet is scheduled for Tuesday evening, where the leaders will meet to discuss and solve the ongoing political crisis in the state.