Pratyeka Hoda Sadhana Samiti calls for Andhra strike today

Vijayawada: The Pratyeka Hoda Sadhana Samiti called for one-day state bandh on Friday demanding the Centre to accord Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh.

The political parties, including the Telugu Desam, the CPI, the CPM and the Congress extended support to the bandh call along with several organisations like AP NGOs, Secretariat employees, the RTC workers, lorry owners, student organisations and other voluntary organisations.

The main Opposition party YSRCP and Jana Sena Party, which have been stating that all parties should come under one umbrella to fight against the Centre, decided to stay away from the bandh just because the Telugu Desam Party was supporting it.

The Andhra University postponed degree exams and several private education institutions announced holiday on Friday. The CPI and the CPM leaders announced that they would stage protest in various towns and cities across the state expressing solidarity to the strike call.

AP Congress president N Raghuveera Reddy would stage protest in Vijayawada city. The Congress activists would participate in the protests across the state, senior Congress leader Meesala Rajeswara Rao, said.

AP Pratyeka Hoda Sadhana Samiti president Chalasani Srinivas asked the political parties and all organisations to take part in strike to raise their voice against the Centre to implement the AP bifurcation enactment. He said that they requested Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to unite all the political parties to stage protest in New Delhi on February 11.

He said that the Chief Minister also assured that he would also invite opposition party leader YS Jaganmohan Reddy. AP Secretariat Employees Association president P Muralikrishna, AP NGOs Association leader Bopparaju Venkateswarlu, Telugu Nadu Students Federation president N Brahmam Chowdary and several leaders announced their support to strike. The leaders of APSRTC announced protests at bus depots across the state.