By IANS
Hyderabad : Activists of Andhra Pradesh’s ruling Congress party and the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) clashed in several places in Medak district Thursday during a strike called by the Congress.
The Congress called the shutdown to protest the alleged attack by TRS supporters on one of its minister after Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy declared that it was impossible to create a separate Telangana state before 2009.
The first clash occurred in Sangareddy town where Congress workers set an effigy of TRS chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao on fire before the home of a party legislator.
TRS supporters then fought with the Congress members. The police used canes to disperse them.
Clashes were also reported from Narsapur, Patancheru and other places in the district.
TRS activists Wednesday allegedly attacked state Minister Mohammed Fareeduddin at Sangareddy.
TRS and Congress workers came to blows at a function attended by the minister. Later, TRS workers threw stones at the minister’s convoy.
Transport in the district was severely hit by Thursday’s shutdown. Buses of the state-owned Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corp (APSRTC) went off the roads. Shops and businesses remained closed.
Ministers J. Geeta Reddy, Raja Narasimha and Mukesh Goud participated in a Congress rally at Sangareddy. They warned that they would make it difficult for TRS leaders to go around in the Telangana region.
Following the Congress protest, TRS chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao Thursday cancelled his visit to Sangareddy.
TRS workers also surrounded two Congress ministers in Mahabubnagar and Ranga Reddy districts. But there was no violence.
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 his supporters 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 economically backward region, which also includes Hyderabad, is over four decades old.