Hyderabad, Dec 16 (IANS) The political deadlock in Andhra Pradesh over the proposed division of the state and the protests in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions continued for the sixth day Wednesday.
The “fast unto death” by Congress MP in Vijayawada L. Rajagopal and Congress legislator Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy in Kadapa entered the second day.

The indefinite hunger strike by Teludu Desam Party (TDP) legislators in Vijayawada and Anantapur also entered the fourth day.

Rallies, demonstrations, road and rail blockades as well as relay hunger strikes continued in most parts of coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema against New Delhi’s decision to start the process to carve out of Andhra Pradesh the new Telangana state, comprising 10 districts including Hyderabad.

Sporadic incidents of violence were reported from various districts. However, Inspector General of Police A.R. Anuradha told reporters here that the situation was by and large peaceful.

Protests are continuing at Sri Krishnadevaraya University in Anantapur, which witnessed clashes between students and police Tuesday.

Police forcibly shifted a TDP legislator and former Vijayawada mayor from his hunger strike camp to a hospital after his condition deteriorated. Some students who were on hunger strike at Andhra University in the coastal city of Visakhapatnma were also forcibly shifted to hospital.

Meanwhile, Congress legislators from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions met here and decided to go to New Delhi Dec 21 to meet the party’s central leaders to demand that the government drop its move to form a Telangana state.

The legislators also decided to work at the national level with other parties opposed to the division of the states.

As many as 139 legislators including 80 of the Congress have submitted their resignations to Speaker Kirankumar Reddy. The speaker has not yet accepted the resignations.

Ministers from Telangana region meanwhile met separately to chalk out their future course of action.

The Congress leaders from Telangana held a meeting here to thank Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for their decision on Telangana.

“When 10 states of Hindi-speaking people could co-exist in harmony, why can’t two Telugu states co-exist?” asked senior Congress leader and former union minister G. Venkatswamy.

Minister for Major Irrigation Ponnala Lakshmaiah said the people of Telangana were close to the goal of achieving a separate state after 50 years of wait and advised them to be restraint.

In a related incident, activists of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and student groups stopped the screening of films of actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi’s son Ram Charan Teja at theatres in the region. This came after Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) decided to oppose the birth of Telangana.