TIRUPATI/ANANTAPUR:Demanding the Centre to accord special category status to Andhra Pradesh and immediate release of the CPI state secretary K Ramakrishna, who is laguishing in jail for organising dharna, cadres of the CPI continued their protest in Tirupati and Anantapur on Sunday.
In Tirupati, the protest organised by the CPI functionaries led to mild tension with the party activist trying to burn the effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Nalugukalla Mandapam while the police stopped them from doing so.
The police also took the effigy from them which led to jostling between the protesters and cops for a while. However, the police succeeded in preventing the CPI cadres from reclaiming the effigy. Resenting the police action, the CPI cadres staged a rasta roko there for a while and blocked the traffic.
Speaking on the occasion, the CPI leaders including state committee member P Harinath Reddy, district and town secretaries A Rama Naidu and Chinnam Penchalaiah came down heavily on the government for arresting the party secretary for organising a protest against the Centre.
Targeting the Union urban development minister M Venkaiah Naidu for failing to get the special category status to the state, they sought his resignation from the Union cabinet.
They also asked chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu to pull out his MPs from the Union cabinet and come out of the BJP-led NDA government in order to mount pressure on Centre.
Meanwhile, in Anantapur district, CPI functionaries staged a rasta roko at Sapthagiri Circle in the town demanding immediate release of K Ramakrishna.
They also asked the Union government to honour the commitment given to the truncated state during the discussion on AP Reorganisation bill in Parliament with regards to according special status to the cash-starved state post bifurcation.
Similarly, student associations of Sri Krishnadevaraya University, too, organised a rasta roko and burnt the effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.