The Congress has made an effort to restore peace in Andhra Pradesh, with its general secretary, Digvijay Singh, appealing to all anti-Telangana protesters on Monday to call off their strike, as people in the region are being affected.
"The strike which has been going on in Andhra Pradesh for the past 60 days, I appeal to them to call off that strike. In public interest they should understand that on one hand you are losing their salaries and on the other hand the people are facing difficulties. In some areas there is no electricity, although power is being generated but they are on strike on the distribution centres. So it is my appeal to all to call off the strike," said Singh, while addressing mediapersons in New Delhi.
Deepening the crisis, the electricity department employees stalled work, plunging large parts of the region into darkness. As a result of the power crisis, many trains have been cancelled.
Southern Railway has cancelled a number of trains between the southern Chennai city and Andhra Pradesh scheduled for Tuesday, due to the violent agitations by some workers of Andhra Pradesh Power Transmission Corporation over the Telangana issue.
"In such situations we have to ensure that our long distance trains are less affected so we took those measures. From the neighbouring zones and from the neighbouring sub-stations, where the power was available, we extended the power supply to the places where it was deficient or it was disrupted and we maintained the railway traction as far as possible," said Anil Saxena, spokesperson of the railway ministry.
In late July, the ruling Congress party had passed a resolution for the creation of the new Telangana state, a move that revived deep political divisions.
In particular, there were apprehensions of violence in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad, which happen to be the home to mega global firms such as Google.
Hyderabad, the sixth largest city of India, which was also the capital of a unified Andhra, is a bone of contention between the two newly formed states.
After the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, the creation of Telangana would lead to the formation of India's 29th state.
The decision to break up Andhra Pradesh and establish Telangana out of the erstwhile domain of Hyderabad's Nizam came ahead of elections next year.
Political analysts observed this as a move by the ruling party to shore up its political fortunes after dragging its feet over the explosive issue for four decades.
The Congress had constituted the Antony Committee (headed by India's Defence Minister Arackaparambil Kurien Antony), to look into the impact of the separation of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh and the possible mitigation measures to counter any untoward situation.
