Protests have intensified in Vijayawada in central Andhra Pradesh.
Protests have intensified in Vijayawada in central Andhra Pradesh. Highways NH 5 and NH 9 have come to a stand-still. Vehicles had been blocked on the arterial highway that connects Chennai, and other important locations on the southeast coast such as Srikakulam, Vishakhapatnam, all the way to Kolkata in West Bengal.
Students led a bike rally around the Benz circle in the heart of the city. "Why should we agree for bifurcation just because one major party wants to gain politically in that region? It is unfair for us. Haven't all of us contributed to Hyderabad and its development? Why then should Hyderabad be taken away? Why then should there be a bifurcation when we all speak the same language, eat the same food and have the same culture," argued Avinash, an engineering student who also heads the JAC (Joint Action Committee) of students in Vijayawada.
It was Jagan Mohan Reddy's YSR Congress versus Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party on MG road in Vijaywada. Both parties tried to outnumber each other at a protest rally against the Congress and its decision to form a separate statehood for Telangana.