Hyderabad, Dec 9 (Inditop.com) The Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh was on the boil Wednesday as massive protests demanding separate statehood and the fast-unto-death by Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) president K. Chandrasekhara Rao entered the 11th day. Doctors said Rao was in a serious condition.
All eyes are on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who are likely to take a decision on the issue after talks with party leaders and Chief Minister K. Rosaiah who flew to New Delhi.
Prohibitory orders under section 144 banning assembly of five or more people were clamped in Hyderabad and the other nine districts of the region as thousands of police and paramilitary forces were mobilised to foil a march to the state assembly planned by students and TRS activists in Hyderabad Thursday.
Police arrested about 2,200 people across the region as street protests by thousands of TRS, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Communist Party of India (CPI) activists as well as students, employees, industrial workers, lawyers and others raged.
Three more people committed suicide in support of the demand for a separate state, taking the toll to 25 since TRS chief launched his fast.
In a sensational development, a police official resigned from her job to express her solidarity with the Telangana movement.
Nalini, the deputy superintendent of police in Medak district, said she could not obey orders from seniors to beat up “own people”.
Police picked up several students during a crackdown on Osmania University here to foil the proposed “march to assembly” which has been renamed as “peace rally”.
Anticipating a major law and order problem with “anti-social elements” reportedly penetrating the movement, the police have refused permission for the rally.
“We will not allow any rally as the gathering of people may create law and order problem,” Inspector General of Police A.R. Anuradha told reporters.
Tension continued near the Osmania University this evening as police were stopping students from entering the campus.
A division bench of the high court asked the authorities to reopen the hostels. To prevent the entry of outsiders, it directed that the students be allowed only after verifying their identity.
The division bench, however, set aside the order of a single-judge bench quashing a government order for closure of all colleges and universities in the region till Dec 18.
Police have turned Hyderabad into a fortress with the deployment of about 15,000 personnel including those from the Central Reserve Police Force and anti-Maoist Greyhounds.
The government has declared a holiday for all the schools in Hyderabad and imposed traffic restrictions around the assembly. At least five flyovers will also be out of bounds for vehicular traffic.
Ten ministers and 19 legislators belonging to the ruling Congress party from Telangana region sent a letter to Sonia Gandhi, urging her to take immediate steps to form a separate Telangana.
About 15 other legislators refused to sign the letter. They included two ministers who shot off a separate letter to the Congress president demanding union territory status for Hyderabad.
Meanwhile, TRS chief Rao’s condition is worsening as he is not taking medicines and intravenous fluids. Doctors monitoring his health at the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) said his condition would deteriorate if he continued the fast.
The MP is not cooperating with the doctors and even his blood samples could not be sent to the laboratory Wednesday morning.
TRS stalled the assembly for the second consecutive day. Speaker Kiran Kumar Reddy adjourned the house thrice as TRS legislators stuck to their demand that the house pass a resolution or immediately take up discussion on the issue.
Chief Minister Rosaiah again appealed to KCR to end the fast. The TRS chief has rejected all such appeals including one made by his own party.
The Telangana issue also found its echo in parliament as leaders of all the parties appealed to KCR to end the fast in view of his poor health.
