The highway blockade called by Pratyeka Hoda Sadhana Samiti, left and Opposition parties demanding implementation of promises made in the AP Reorganisation Act- 2014, passed off peacefully without any untoward incident both in the city and in the district.
Squatting at the Maddilapalem Junction CPI State assistant secretary J.V. Satyanarayana Murthy said “when we initiated the agitation demanding special category status for the State and separate railway zone for Visakhapatnam about two years ago, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu sarcastically told us to shift our protest to New Delhi. Now he himself is upset by the way BJP handled the issues and he was forced to come out of the alliance. It is now our turn to tell him to take the fight to Delhi..
“According to him SCS, separate railway zone and steel plant at Kadapa, are important for the State and we shall not rest till we get it,” he said. YSR Congress Party and Congress joined the left parties.
YSRCP and left party workers raised slogans and even played kabbadi in tandem at various junctions in the city.
The Congress though present at a few places were seen making their point in isolation. Talking to The Hindu at Madillapalem Junction, former Congress MLA Dronamraju Satyanarayana, said “It is no longer a political movement but a people’s movement.”
Critical of Prime Minister Modi, Mr. Satyanarayana said, “Today, Congress is being blamed for the division of the State, but it was Mr. Modi who added the promises made in the AP Reorganisation Act in the election manifesto and promised to deliver it to the state once elected. He (Modi) has gone back on his promise.”
TDP joins protest
TDP leaders and cadres also joined the protest, but they kept aloof of the others. Pitching up tents by the side of the road they staged a protest. “We have been instructed by the high command not to block roads and create inconvenience for the others and we have been also told not to join other parties in the protest,” said Lalam Bhaskar, TDP leader.
Led by the left parties the protesters squatted on the road at 10 a.m. at the key junctions and vacated by 11.30 a.m. The targeted junctions were Hanumanthawaka, Madillapalem, NAD Kotha Road, Gajuwaka and Lankelapalem.
Private vehicles, school buses, ambulances and emergency vehicles were given way and there was no major traffic jam due to the blockade. The police diverted all heavy vehicles at Anandapuram, Pendurthi and Lankelapalem. Buses were also diverted via bypass routes to avoid hitting the NH.
According to YSRCP Gudivada Amarnath, the blockade was called from 10 a.m. to avoid clash with the ongoing SSC examination and called off before 12 p.m.
