AP bandh hits normal life

The bandh call announced by the major Opposition party YSR Congress and supported by Congress and other parties to protest the denial of Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh by the Centre was near total across the State on Tuesday.

Educational institutions and business establishments remained closed. Most of the private educational institutions had declared a holiday in advance in view of the bandh call by the Opposition parties.

State owned APSRTC buses did not ply and were confined to the bus depots. YSRCP and Congress workers staged protests in front of the bus depots across the state and did not allow the buses to ply. Police arrested the protestors and shifted them to police stations and later they were released.

The protestors raised anti-BJP and TDP slogans and demanded that the Centre accord SCS to AP saying that it was the Constitutional right of the people of the state.

YSR Congress Chief Jagan Mohan Reddy ridiculed the BJP and the TD saying that they had cheated the people of the state after coming to power. He reminded that the BJP had promised to accord SCS to AP if voted to power.

Jagan came down heavily on TD chief and AP CM Chandrababu Naidu saying that Naidu did nothing to pressurize the Centre to accord special status to the state. He questioned the TD chief as to why he remained in the NDA despite BJP denying AP its due right.