Normal life was hit in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday as the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of students observed a shut down in protest against the delay in according separate statehood to Telangana.
A volatile situation was witnessed on the Osmania University (OU) campus, the nerve centre of pro-Telangana students agitation, with police stalling the students from taking out the charred body of K Venugopal Reddy, who self immolated on the campus premises on Tuesday, in a procession to Telangana martyrs memorial at Gun Park near the state Assembly.
A pitched battle ensued with students hurling stones at the police and the latter lobbing teargas shells and firing rubber bullets to disperse them. The angry students set ablaze a police vehicle.
Home minister, P Sabitha Indra Reddy, said 13 policemen and 11 students were injured in the clash. The police later took away the body of the young student to his native village in Nalgonda district for cremation.
As had been the case with earlier bandh calls, the state-owned road transport corporation suspended its bus services in the entire Telangana region, while shops, business establishments and educational institutions remained closed.
Meanwhile, the students mounted pressure on the legislators hailing from the Telangana region to press for acceptance of their resignations submitted to the Speaker. They said all those who had not resigned so far should resign immediately.
Addressing a press conference, M Kodandaram, convenor of the Telangana JAC comprising different political parties and pro-Telangana organisations, also read out the names of the legislators and ministers who had not resigned so far and said they should resign now.
Earlier, the JAC had set January 28 as the deadline for the UPA government to unveil the road map for bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. However, the string of suicides by students has prompted the JAC to raise the pitch.
