Andhra Pradesh: TDP chief cycles to office

Telugu Desam Party president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu rode a bicycle from his residence to party office even as TDP joined the Left parties in organising an hour-long rail and rasta roko (road blockade) agitation in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday to protest the recent hike in the prices of petrol and diesel.

Accompanied by his party leaders and cadres, Naidu pedalled a bicycle from his residence on Road No 68 at Jubilee Hills to the party office at NTR Trust Bhavan in Banjara Hills. He covered a distance of 1.5 km on the bicycle - which is also the TDP's election symbol.

About 2.1 lakh trucks in Andhra Pradesh went off the roads for 2 hours from Monday midnight, responding to Transporters and Truck Operators Federation's call for a one-day token strike to protest against the fuel price hike.

Trucks transporting essential commodities were, however, exempted from the strike. In all, 11 truck unions from the state participated in the nation-wide stir.

In the state capital as well as other towns and cities, TDP and Left parties' leaders and cadres came onto the roads at 11 am to stage rasta roko for an hour.

At several places, cadres of these parties tried to stop the rail traffic by squatting on the tracks but the police and railway protection force personnel took them away. The police arrested Communist Party of India-Marxist state secretary B V Raghavulu and other CPI-M and CPI leaders for defying prohibitory orders and staging rasta roko.