Anantpur:
Protests and violence continue in Andhra. After students and police clashed on Tuesday morning, Sri Krishnadevaraya University in Anantpur has been closed for vacations till December 27. Resident students at the hostel are being asked to vacate.
Students at this university have been actively involved in the anti-Telangana protests. On Tuesday, there was stone-pelting and a lathi charge as students clashed with the police and the town has been tense since. Several people were reported injured. (
Video: Students lathicharged in Anantpur)
Anti-Telangana activists also stopped the Tpuram-Hyderabad Sabari Express at Guntur. The Joint Action Committee, a group spearheading the campaign for a united Andhra, has said it will continue its bandh.
Actor-turned-politician Chiranjeeevi has blasted the Congress, saying the party was responsible for the violence and should resolve it now. "Our stand is with the people, he said.
In Hyderabad, Congress MLAs from Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra marched from Assembly to Secretariat to garland the statute of Potti Sriramulu, who had fasted in 1952 to demand the formation of Andhra Pradesh and died while fasting. Andhra Pradesh state was created in 1956. It is Potti Sriramulu's death anniversary today.
Congressman Rajagopal, who was arrested twice on Monday to prevent him from starting a hunger strike, has managed to begin his fast today - in Vijayawada, his constituency.