Thaindian News

Hyderabad, Jan 21 (IANS) For the second consecutive day Thursday, the shutdown in Telangana over the demand for a separate state hit normal life in the region. But unlike the first day, when the impact was total, there was a partial response this time.
The impact was not visible in most parts of Hyderabad as buses of the state-owned Road Transport Corporation (RTC) returned on the roads. Most shops, business establishments and educational institutions also re-opened.

However, the RTC bus services to other parts of Telangana and other regions of Andhra Pradesh remained suspended. RTC also did not ply buses in the rest of Telangana.

The shutdown was near total in Adilabad, Nizamabad, Warangal, Medak and Karimnagar districts but evoked partial response in other parts of the region.

It was called by the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Telangana students to protest the delay in the formation of a separate state.

In Hyderabad, pro-Telangana activists disrupted a Twenty20 match between the Hyderabad and Andhra cricket teams at Uppal stadium.

Raising slogans of “Andhras go back”, the protestors barged into the stadium. Police swung into action to disperse them but the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) abandoned the match, fearing more protests.

Students took out a peace rally at Osmania University, which witnessed clashes between students and police Wednesday. The violence broke out when police prevented students from carrying the body of a student in a procession.

The student had committed suicide Tuesday protesting the delay in the formation of a Telangana state. Since then, five more youths, including two students, have ended their lives in different parts of Telangana.

Rallies, relay hunger strike, road blockades and human chains marked the second day shutdown in the region.

After some confusion on whether the shutdown would continue for the second day, the JAC Wednesday night issued a statement that the strike would be for 48 hours. It, however, exempted buses carrying pilgrims to Medaram Jatra, a tribal fair in Warangal district, from the shutdown.

Amid mounting pressure on elected representatives to resign, legislators of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) met assembly speaker Kirankumar Reddy, urging him to accept their resignations submitted last month.

The speaker sought time to take a decision. TRS leader E. Rajender said a constitutional crisis in the state alone could force the centre to make an announcement on the formation of Telangana.

The JAC of political parties and other groups is also holding a crucial meeting later in the day to chalk out a future course of action to press the assembly speaker to accept the resignations of the legislators.

The student JAC Wednesday released a list of legislators, including 13 ministers, who have not yet submitted their resignations and have termed them “traitors” of Telangana.

The political JAC, at its meeting Wednesday evening, appealed to people to boycott the programmes of the ministers.

As many as 77 out of the 119 MLAs from the Telangana region had last month submitted their resignations to the assembly speaker.