Hyderabad, Dec 24 (IANS) A shutdown crippled Monday Andhra Pradesh’s Guntur district on a call given by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to protest the arrest of its senior leader Kodela Sivaprasada Rao.
Shops, businesses and educational institutions remained closed in Guntur and other towns in the coastal district, affecting normal life. Police arrested TDP workers who tried to force closure of shops.
The TDP activists also staged road blockades at various places demanding action against the policemen for their high-handedness during a protest by the TDP in Narsaraopet town Sunday.
Tension prevailed in Guntur town Monday when police arrested TDP leaders and activists for trying to take out rallies to condemn the police action. The leaders, who squatted on the roads, were bodily lifted by police.
Rao, a former minister, fell unconscious for some time when police baton-charged the TDP activists who tried to lay siege to Cooperation Minister Kasu Venkata Krishna Reddy’s house Sunday.
The TDP activists were protesting the alleged irregularities in the registration of voters for elections to cooperative bodies allegedly at the behest of the minister.
