HYDERABAD: After a lull of one week, pro-Telangana parties and activists have beefed up their agitation demanding a separate state for the region. As part of this the Telangana political joint action committee (JAC), led by Telangana Rashtra Samithi and BJP, on Monday blocked roads across the region paralysing traffic and people movement.
Thousands of commuters, including children, who were coming back from the coastal districts to Hyderabad after Sankranti, were left stranded for hours as Telangana activists blocked all four entry points into the city. There were long traffic jams on the state and national highways leading to Hyderabad.
However, the protests went off peacefully , compared to the last year’s violent and aggressive agitation. Police arrested hundreds of activists at LB Nagar, the gateway of coastal Andhra Pradesh into Hyderabad.
Last year during this season, the movement was very aggressive and activists burnt or stoned many buses. They had even built walls on the highways apart from attacking public and private properties.
“The protests were aimed at forcing the government to introduce a separate Telangana Bill in Parliament in the coming budget session. The government is using the police to deny us the democratic right of staging a protest,’’ said JAC convener Prof M Kodandaram.
According to him, the agitation would be intensified by starting relay hunger strikes from January 21 if the Centre did not agree to separate statehood.
Kodandaram, BJP leader and former Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya and a large number of activists were taken into custody at LB Nagar crossroads when they blocked traffic on Hyderabad-Vijayawada highway.
The pro-Telangana parties have been calling for peaceful protests this time, ever since the Sri Krishna Committee report was made public on January 6. The report had suggested six options including the formation of a separate Telangana state. But it strongly recommended a unified Andhra Pradesh as the best solution .
The TRS and the BJP along with Congress and TDP leaders from Telangana are demanding that the Centre should accept only the fifth suggestion of the Srikrishna committee granting separate statehood to Telangana with Hyderabad as an integral part of it.
Thousands of commuters, including children, who were coming back from the coastal districts to Hyderabad after Sankranti, were left stranded for hours as Telangana activists blocked all four entry points into the city. There were long traffic jams on the state and national highways leading to Hyderabad.
However, the protests went off peacefully , compared to the last year’s violent and aggressive agitation. Police arrested hundreds of activists at LB Nagar, the gateway of coastal Andhra Pradesh into Hyderabad.
Last year during this season, the movement was very aggressive and activists burnt or stoned many buses. They had even built walls on the highways apart from attacking public and private properties.
“The protests were aimed at forcing the government to introduce a separate Telangana Bill in Parliament in the coming budget session. The government is using the police to deny us the democratic right of staging a protest,’’ said JAC convener Prof M Kodandaram.
According to him, the agitation would be intensified by starting relay hunger strikes from January 21 if the Centre did not agree to separate statehood.
Kodandaram, BJP leader and former Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya and a large number of activists were taken into custody at LB Nagar crossroads when they blocked traffic on Hyderabad-Vijayawada highway.
The pro-Telangana parties have been calling for peaceful protests this time, ever since the Sri Krishna Committee report was made public on January 6. The report had suggested six options including the formation of a separate Telangana state. But it strongly recommended a unified Andhra Pradesh as the best solution .
The TRS and the BJP along with Congress and TDP leaders from Telangana are demanding that the Centre should accept only the fifth suggestion of the Srikrishna committee granting separate statehood to Telangana with Hyderabad as an integral part of it.
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