Telegu Desam Party lawmakers also protested outside the parliament
The opposition in Andhra Pradesh called for a state-wide
bandh today. State-run bus services are suspended and educational institutions remain shut.
Opposition parties are enforcing the day-long
bandh to protest the "failure" of the centre to implement the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.
Parallel to this, the ruling Telugu Desam Party or TDP has been organising rallies across the state in solidarity with its lawmakers "fighting in Parliament to secure the state's rights".
"People and intellectuals irrespective of political affiliations should stand in solidarity with our parliamentarians, who have been fighting in Parliament for the state's rights," state TDP president and Energy Minister Kimidi Kala Venkata Rao said.
The Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation suspended its bus services across the state in view of the simultaneous agitations.
Educational institutions declared a "holiday", while business establishments remained shut.
A senior police official said no untoward incident has been reported so far and the
bandh was continuing peacefully.
The Left parties called the bandh demanding that the centre honour its promises and implement provisions of the Reorganisation Act, which led to the creation of Telangana.
The main opposition YSR Congress, the Congress and the Jana Sena extended support to the
bandh.
YSR Congress president and leader of opposition YS Jaganmohan Reddy declared a one-day break from his ongoing foot march today in solidarity with the
bandh. He is currently in SPS Nellore district.
Left workers staged
dharnas in front of several Road Transport Corporation depots and also took out rallies in important towns.
In Kurnool, Guntur and Tirupati, YSR Congress activists joined protest rallies.
Opposition parties have been protesting the "injustice" done to the state in the Union Budget 2018-19 and the centre's failure to implement the Act in its letter and spirit.
The Act deals with a host of issues like division of assets and liabilities of institutions between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and release of funds for the Polavaram project and other schemes in Andhra Pradesh.
Attendance was reportedly low in government offices and public sector undertakings like Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, Visakhapatnam Port Trust, National Thermal Power Corp and Hindustan Shipyard among others.
Transport services in Visakhapatnam were paralysed as private and public bus services, autorickshaws, lorries and trucks are off the road.
Commercial establishments and hotels downed shutters in the port city while government and private schools and colleges have declared a "holiday" today.
The Andhra University (AU) announced suspension of classes to avoid inconvenience to students.
Classes would be suspended at the Visakhapatnam-based AU and its affiliated colleges, said Registrar V Umamaheswara Rao in a statement.