Police crackdown dims YSR Cong bandh response

The bandh called by YSR Congress on Friday to protest the unprecedented power cuts in Andhra Pradesh evoked lukewarm response as police cracked down on the party rank and file across the state.

Scores of YSR Congress leaders and workers were taken into custody at many places while some top leaders of the party were kept under "house arrest" to thwart the bandh.

In coastal town of Srikakulam, YSR Congress MLA Dharmana Krishnadas entered into an argument with local police after his wife and party district convenor Padma Priya was taken into preventive custody.

At Macherla in Guntur district, too, a tiff broke out between local MLA P Ramakrishna Reddy and police when the former tried to enforce a bandh in the town, a senior police officer said in Hyderabad.

In Hyderabad, YSRC spokesman Gattu Ramachandra Rao and other leaders were taken into custody when they tried to block movement of State Road Transport Corporation buses. The party's youth wing leader, P Pratap Reddy, was arrested at LB Nagar when he was taking out a rally with party workers.

Only a few schools in the state capital remained shut as the managements declared a 'holiday' as a precaution in view of the bandh call.

Life was normal in Hyderabad as commercial establishments remained open and public transport operated without any hitch.

In port-city Visakhapatnam, YSRC workers staged a protest outside a police station after they were taken into custody as part of the crackdown against the bandh.

Reports from districts in Telangana said there was little impact of the YSRC bandh call. In Anantapur and Kadapa districts in Rayalaseema, however, there is said to be a moderate response to the shutdown, reports said.