Even as the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and others celebrated the Centre's announcement to initiate the process for carving out a separate Telangana State, over 200 people were taken into preventive custody on Thursday after widespread protests in Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions of the state.
Opposing a separate Telangana and favouring a united Andhra Pradesh, political parties, students and others, intensified their agitations and took to streets in the coastal districts of Visakhapatnam, Guntur, Krishna and Anantapur and Chittoor districts in the Rayalaseema region.
Following the protests, the police took over 200 people into preventive custody from these regions, who may resort to violent activities, a release from the Andhra Pradesh deputy general of police' office said.
As part of the protests opposing separate Telangana, students of Srikrishna Devaraya University in Anantapur district damaged seven APSRTC buses and blocked roads, while Telugu Desam Party activists resorted to road blockades in Guntur district.
Similarly, students of Acharya Nagarjuna University locked the varsity entrance gate and formed a human chain in Guntur.
Students also took out rallies across Kadapa district and held a 'rail roko' at Rajampet besides burnt effigies of All India Congress Committee president Sonia Gandhi and Union Home Minister P Chidambaram at Visakhapatnam, the release said.
Employee associations in Prakasam district also expressed their support for unified Andhra Pradesh.
Similarly, advocates boycotted courts at Pakala in Chittoor, and took out a rally at Mummidivaram in East Godavari and staged a demonstration in front of the Andhra Pradesh high court in support of a united Andhra Pradesh in Hyderabad.
As part of counter agitations, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad activists burnt the effigy of Vijaywada Member of Parliament L Rajagopal at Bhoopalapalli in Warangal district, while around 50 advocates staged sit-in in front of the high court in support of separate Telangana, the release added.
