The bandh called by the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Telangana Joint Action Committee and several other organisations brought normal life in the region to a grinding halt on Saturday. The bandh was called to protest Friday's firing on pro-Telangana activists who tried to stop the visit of Congress Member of Parliament from Kadapa YS Jaganmohan Reddy to Warangal district.
Nearly five hundred pro-Telangana activists were arrested as they tried to force the closure of shops and block the roads.
Shops, business establishments and banks remained closed and roads wore a deserted look as the state Road Transport Corporation suspended its service in most parts of Telangana. Three buses were damaged in Yadigirivgutta in Nalgonda districts and trains were also stopped at several places.
Meanwhile, the Congress' high command's anger with Reddy's decision -- to defy their request and tour Telangana region -- became clear when senior party leader Pranab Mukherjee said that action will be taken against him if he does not cancel his tour.
"He should have gone by the party's suggestion and cancelled the tour," Mukherjee told reporters in Gulbarga city of Karnataka.
A defensive Jagan on the other hand met Governor ESL Narasimhan in Hyderabad to explain his position. Blaming the TRS leaders for the violence, Jagan reportedly told the governor he was only going to console the families whose members died of shock following his father YSR Rajasekhara Reddy's sudden death in a helicopter crash.
Despite the displeasure of the Congress party leadership, several ministers and legislators met Jagan at his residence today to discuss the situation following his abortive tour of Warangal district and his preventive arrest.
Telangana Joint Action Committee convenor Professor Kodanda Ram was arrested along with other protestors in Hyderabad.
"The purpose of the bandh was to make clear the sentiments of the Telangana people towards the Congress party and its governments in the state and at the Centre. If even now Jaganmohan Reddy tries to visit Telangana, he alone will be responsible for the consequences," Ram said.
Elaborate security arrangements were made at the Osmania University Campus and additional police platoons were deployed at all sensitive places as the protestors took to the streets.
At many places, copies of Sakshi newspaper owned by Jagan faced the ire of pro-Telangana agitators, who burnt its copies along with effigies of the Congress leaders. Such protests were reported from Adilabad, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Medak, Warangal and Nalgonda.
Jaganmohan Reddy, Congress MP from Kadapa, and son of late YSR, was arrested by the police on his way to Mehbubabad on Friday following clashes between his supporters and opponents. The security guards of two pro-Jagan Congress MLAs -- Konda Surekha and Kavita -- opened fire on the protestors, injuring nine of them.
