Despite reports from New Delhi that senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh has said that electricity for emergency services has been restored in Seemandhra region and union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde saying that power could be delivered to Andhra Pradesh from outside, a few relaxations notwithstanding, the crisis continues to worry the state government.

The cause for concern grew after desperate negotiations by chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy proved futile.

But with the protesting electricity employees insisting on anti-bifurcation assurance, the Centre is equally tense. The threat of the Southern Grid collapsing anytime is keeping it on tenterhooks.

Reports from Delhi quoted Digvijay Singh, who is the Congress party’s in charge for AP affairs, saying that chief minister Reddy would meet representatives from power plants where employees from Seemandhra regions have gone on strike to protest bifurcation of AP.

Meanwhile, reports quoted Shinde saying that the Centre can consider asking NTPC to supply power to parts of AP hit by power crisis. The electricity to be supplied would be generated outside the state and would thus remain unaffected by the workers’ strike.

Meanwhile, stretching into the fourth day, the electricity strike only deepened the power crisis further on Tuesday. The unrelenting strike resulted in disruption of 4190 MW of power generation. Sensing the potential danger to the Southern Grid, the Centre and state governments initiated damage-control.

Chief minister Reddy held a series of parleys with the joint action committee (JAC) of electricity employees in Hyderabad. But the talks proved futile as the employees insisted on a clear assurance from the Centre – they want the bifurcation process be stopped immediately.

Much before Reddy began this round of negotiations, a few central stalwarts of the Congress tried their hands at dousing the fire. They appealed to the electricity employees and AP NGOs to call off their stir for the convenience of the hassled public.

But seen as hollow rhetoric, their attempts failed to cut much ice in the seething Seemandhra regions. Power blues continued to haunt the people and cripple functioning at all vital installations.

Hospitals were forced to put off surgeries, drinking water supply stalled and even airports were forced to work in sultry, humid conditions. Hundreds of villages continued to feel the heat amid indiscriminate power cuts. The scenario was especially grim in Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam, Nellore, Kadapa and Chittoor districts.

Employees of the Southern Power Distribution Corporation Limited, however, showed some mercy on Tirumala. The hill shrine was exempted from the strike and uninterrupted power supply was restored in view of the ongoing brahmotsavams.

A partial relief was also felt in the north Andhra districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam in the morning. Staffers of the eastern power distribution wing agreed to restore supply for a few hours following talks with the authorities.

The decision became imperative in the wake of massive rioting in Vizianagaram district.

While the gloom on the power front continued, AP NGOs pressed the pedal hard in their two-month-long protests. The agitating employees lay siege to nationalised banks across the Seemandhra regions to apply more Samaikhyandhra pressure.

Scores of AP NGO activists were arrested when they besieged the SBI regional office on the bank street of Hyderabad.

Protesters in West Godavari found their soulmate in Gautam Budda, the embodiment of peace. Mocking the present-day politicos for their lust for power, protesters held Buddhist prayers.

A few crusaders for unified AP sent authorities into a tizzy in Visakhapatnam when they perched on top of the King George Hospital building. The huge government hospital came to a freeze following their ruckus demanding Samaikhyandhra.

Restive agitators in the temple town of Tirupathi vented their anger on the office of National Atmospheric Research Laboratory. Furniture in the guesthouse was destroyed while a few vehicles on the campus were targeted.

But the biggest shock of the day came in Nellore town from a popular people’s representative: brandishing a revolver wrapped in paper, Aanam Vivekananda Reddy, the Congress MLA from Nellore Rural, had everyone in shock. The incident took place right outside his residence when YSR Congress Party activists tried to lay siege to it.

Stung equally by an unexpected twist was TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, fasting far away from the hotspot in the relatively cooler climes of New Delhi. Naidu, who fell back on ‘Justice for All’ slogan after Seemandhra unrest, was asked to vacate the Andhra Pradesh Bhavan premises. The former chief minister began his indefinite hunger strike there on Monday.

Citing an election code of conduct for their order, AP Bhavan authorities had the TDP men fuming. They saw a Congress hand behind it and vowed to defy any curbs against their leader’s efforts to keep the Telugus united.

Back in Hyderabad, YSR Congress president YS Jaganmohan Reddy carried on with his fast for the fourth day. Doctors examining him ruled out any cause for concern but said his health is steadily on the decline.