Except for sporadic incidents of tension, the State bandh called by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) protesting the arrest of TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu in connection with the ‘Skill Development Scam’ case was observed peacefully all over Anantapur district, evoking a partial response from the public.
At Venkatapuram village of the district, mild tension prevailed when former Minister Paritala Sunitha led the protest with a large number of followers. Around 4:30 a.m., she started moving towards Ramagiri Center to enforce the bandh when the police took her and her supporters into custody.
In Dharmavaram town of Sri Sathya Sai district, Ms. Sunitha’s son and senior TDP leader, Paritala Sriram, was arrested when he staged a protest sporting black clothes, denouncing Mr. Naidu’s arrest.
Rasta roko
At Uttehal in Bommanahalli mandal of the district, the TDP cadres staged a rasta roko on the Ballari-Kalayadurgam road by burning tyres. Traffic came to a grinding halt for an hour before the police cleared the jam. About 20 activists were taken into custody and released in the evening.
In Tadipatri, municipal chairman J.C. Prabhakar Reddy offered prayers at the temple of Gayatri Ammavaru at Sanjiv Nagar and staged a silent protest, condemning the arrest of Mr. Naidu.
Relay hunger strike
In Kurnool district, former MLA Meenakshi Naidu and his supporters staged a relay hunger strike at NTR Circle at Adoni. At Pattikonda, former MLA K.E. Prabhakar launched the relay hunger strike.
A heavy police force was deployed at various places in Nandyal and Kurnool districts, facilitating the free flow of traffic on the national highway towards Hyderabad.
Meanwhile, the APSRTC buses were seen operating normally all over the combined Anantapur and Kurnool districts. Commerical establishments were voluntarily closed in Anantapur, Hindupur, Kurnool, and Nandyal.
