VISAKHAPATNAM/KAKINADA: A large number of security personnel, including central forces, have been deployed in the coastal Andhra region, specially at university campuses, as part of the measures to check protestors who have intensified their agitations in support of a united state.
Seemandhra students' Joint Action Committee on Wednesday issued a veiled threat to the coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema leaders that they would not remain silent if the latter do not offer resignations in case the Centre decides to woo the Telangana forces. Students of Andhra University torched an effigy of coastal Andhra politicians, demanding that they resign immediately in support of a united state.
About 500 security personnel were deployed in Visakhapatnam to maintain law and order. Two platoons of special party police and one company of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and city law and order police were pressed into service on Wednesday. "We have adequate security forces here and are keeping tabs on elements which may cause disturbance. We have sent the ITBP forces along with our local forces to the university," Vizag police commissioner J Poorna Chandra Rao told TOI. "If student organisations and political parties want to take out peaceful protests, we will not object," he said. Sources said a huge number of intelligence wing cops have also been deployed. Plainclothes police personnel were seen all around the AU campus and its surroundings.
Security was also tightened at the Ambedkar University in Etcherla in Srikakulam. Students of the university and various colleges in Srikakulam conducted rallies in support of united AP. Uttarandhra Vidyardhi Sena convenor S Ramana Murthy warned Telangana leaders not to provoke students from Andhra. "If they want to carry out agitations, they should do it on political lines. Students are being made scapegoats in their agitations. If the partition of the state is inevitable, then it should be divided into four states," he observed. Uttarandhra Rakshana Vedika convenor K Siva Sankar said if the central government goes ahead with the bifurcation of the state, Vizag should be made the new capital.
Meanwhile, the Samaikhyandhra agitation is gaining steam in East and West Godavari districts. College students in Kakinada boycotted their classes and staged a rasta roko at Indrapalem. They threatened that they would intensify the agitation for a united AP if the Centre buckles to the demand of Telangana leaders." We won't stop our agitation until the Union government gives a categorical statement to protect the interests of united AP," said an agitator.
