AP: Battle-lines drawn over Telangana

After Telangana, it is the turn of the Andhra and Rayal Seema regions of Andhra Pradesh to rise up in defiance against the latest developments for the formation of a new state.

In reaction to the resignations by Members of Legislative Assembly and Members of Parliament of Telangana, students of the other two regions have also started mounting pressure on elected representatives to tender their resignations to press for an united Andhra Pradesh.
 
In a veiled warning, Congress MLA from Anantapur in Rayal Seema region J C Diwakar Reddy said that in response to the resignations by Telangana MLAs and MPs, they can also submit their resignations.

"Resignations are not going to solve any problems," he said.
 
He wanted the Centre to take its own decision on the issue without any further consultations.
 
E Pratap Reddy, a Congress minister from Rayal Seema, said that it was impossible for the central government to make all the regions happy at the time.

"Let the Centre take its own decision. Those who want to continue in the party will remain and others will go. It is not appropriate to delay the decision any further," he said.
 
Congress MLA Dr Ravi Kumar said that he was ready to make any 'sacrifice' for the sake of a united Andhra Pradesh.
 
Similar statements have been issued by the leaders of Congress and the Telugu Desam Party in coastal Andhra region.
 
The United Andhra Pradesh Students Joint Action Committee has also drawn up plans for their counter agitation in those two regions. Their agitation plan includes formation of a human chain on July 7, demonstrations on July 8 and laying a siege at the residences of their public representatives on July 9.

They have also planned to target the offices of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India in Andhra and Rayal Seema as these parties support a separate Telangana.
 
The students of Nagarjuna Sagar University on Wednesday held a Rasta Roko programme in Guntur to mark the launching of their agitation.
 
Meanwhile, the Andhra University in Visakhapatanam has emerged as the main centre of a pro "United Andhra Pradesh movement".
 
Security was tightened on the campus by deploying additional police and para-military forces in the port city, especially around the AU campus. The arrangement evoked a strong reaction from the students, who claimed that the deployment of forces was a provocative step as the situation on the campus was very peaceful.
 
Meanwhile, pro-Telangana activists in Hyderabad have started targeting leaders of Andhra and Rayal Seema. They tried to disrupt a meeting of the leaders of the two regions.
 
Pro-Telangana lawyers and a few leaders of the Telangana Joint Action Committee targeted the house of local leader Prakala Prabhakar in Narsangi near Hyderabad for his comments against Telangana. The police had to intervene and dispersed the protestors after some of them resorted to stone pelting at the house.
 
Pro-Telangana activists and students have warned that those against the formation of a separate state will not be allowed to stay in Hyderabad.