Thaindian News

Hyderabad, July 19 (IANS) Normal life was affected in parts of Andhra Pradesh and stray incidents of violence were reported Monday during a shutdown called by the opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to protest the arrest of its chief N. Chandrababu Naidu in Maharashtra.

The strike evoked mixed response in the state capital and 22 other districts. State-owned Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) had to partially suspend bus services here and other towns.

Protesters set afire a bus in Sanathnagar area in Hyderabad, while 11 buses were damaged in other parts of the state.

Educational institutions, shops, petrol bunks, cinema theatres, business establishments, banks were closed in parts of Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Kakinada, Tirupati and Guntur.

Over 2,000 TDP activists were arrested by police for staging road and rail blockades and forcing shops and business establishments to down shutters. The movement of vehicular traffic on national and state highways was affected due to the road blockades by protesters.

Director General of Police R.R. Girish Kumar said the strike passed off peacefully without any major incidents. According to him, 2,391 people were taken into preventive custody.

The movement of trains was disrupted in some places by TDP workers. The protesters stopped the Hyderabad-Mumbai Hussain Sagar Express at Tandur in Ranga Reddy district and the Guntur-Secunderabad Golconda Express at Ghanpur station in Warangal district.

TDP Rajya Sabha member N. Harikrishna was arrested by police at Basara in Adilabad district when he was going towards Dharmabad in Maharashtra to meet Naidu and other TDP leaders, who are in judicial custody. Harikrishna, who is also the son-in-law of Naidu, was shifted to Nizamabad.

In Secunderabad in the state capital, police arrested 50 TDP activists including former minister T. Srinivas Yadav when they tried to enforce the shutdown.

Former mayor T. Krishna Reddy and other TDP leaders were arrested for blocking roads at the RTC crossroads in Hyderabad. Former minister K. Srihari and about 50 other party workers were arrested at Ghanpur in Warangal district.

Tension prevailed in Vijayawada as TDP activists tried to forcibly close shops but the attempts were resisted by Congress workers. Police arrested former MP G. Rammohan Rao and other TDP leaders.

TDP workers staged a sit-in outside the APSRTC depots in Hyderabad and elsewhere to stop buses from plying. The Maharashtra Road Transport Corporation stopped all its bus services to Andhra Pradesh as a precautionary measure.

The shutdown, however, had little impact in some areas as normal traffic was on the roads while markets also opened. The firms in IT district Cyberabad too were working as usual.