The bandh called by students and the Joint Action Committee demanding immediate steps for formation of separate Telangana began this morning.
Two suicides, a bandh and clashes between students and policemen on Wednesday kept the Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh on the boil.
Violence broke out in Osmania University as police prevented students from taking out a procession with the body of Venugopal Reddy, the MCA student who had set himself on fire to protest the delay in carving out Telangana.
Clashes erupted when police and paramilitary forces tried to stop hundreds of students from marching towards the city centre with Reddy’s body. The campus turned into a battle zone as police fired several gunshots in the air, lobbed teargas shells and lathicharged students who were throwing stones.
Eventually, policemen seized Reddy’s body and took it to Nalgonda, his native district, for last rites. At least a dozen students and 10 policemen were injured in clashes. Hyderabad police commissioner B Prasada Rao said that the situation was brought under control. University officials have indefinitely postponed all semester examinations.
According to sources, the Congress high command is worried about the deteriorating law and order and the number of suicides. In Warangal, students laid siege to the house of state minister P Lakshmaiah, demanding his resignation in support of Telangana.
Three more Telangana supporters have ended their lives since Reddy’s death. Suvarnamma, a first year BSc student, set herself on fire in Mahabubnagar late on Tuesday. Anil Kumar, an undergraduate, ended his life in Nalgonda on Wednesday.
In Warangal, an activist of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi committed suicide. Meanwhile, the joint action committee (JAC) by Osmania students is pressurising legislators to resign. “Those who don’t resign are traitors. We will not allow them to move around,” a JAC leader said.
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