By IANS
Hyderabad : The shutdown in Andhra Pradesh’s Medak district the ruling Congress called to protest the Telengana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) attack on a state minister took a violent turn Thursday when workers from both parties clashed in several places.
The first clash occurred in the district headquarters at Sangareddy. Congress workers staged a protest and set afire an effigy of TRS chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao before the home of TRS legislator Satyanarayana.
Soon, TRS supporters also gathered, leading to a clash between two groups. The police caned the two groups to disperse them.
Clashes were also reported from Narsapur, Patancheru and other places.
TRS activists Wednesday allegedly attacked state Minister Mohammed Fareeduddin during a protest at Sangareddy against Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s statement that it was impossible to create a separate Telangana state before 2009.
TRS and Congress workers came to blows at a function attended by the minister, and the police used force to disperse them. Later, TRS workers threw stones at the minister’s convoy.
Transport in the district was severely hit by the shutdown. Buses of the state-owned Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) went off the roads, and shops and business establishments remained closed as Congress workers enforced the strike.
Ministers J. Geeta Reddy, Raja Narasimha and Mukesh Goud participated in a Congress rally in Sangareddy. They warned that they would make it difficult for the TRS leaders to go around in the Telangana region.
Following the Congress’ protest, TRS chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao Thursday cancelled his scheduled visit to Sangareddy.
TRS workers also surrounded two ministers in Mahabubnagar and Ranga Reddy districts. For the last few days, party activists have been blocking convoys of ministers in Telangana region to pressure them to come out in support of a separate state.
TRS is trying to intensify the Telangana movement but the party chief has warned its activists against resorting to violence. The party has also been running a campaign against the proposal to constitute the second States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) that is supposed to look into the demands for separate states, including Telangana.
TRS is opposing the second SRC on the ground that this would delay the process of creating the state.
More than 300 people were killed during the Telangana movement in 1969. The demand for separate statehood to the backward region, comprising Hyderabad and nine other districts, is over four decades old.