Hyderabad: A fierce showdown between employees of Seemandhra and those of Telangana sparked off tension on the premises of the Andhra Pradesh Secretariat here this afternoon. Police had a tough time as the employees shouted slogans against each other and at one point event came to blows in a surcharged atmosphere.

Trouble broke out as soon as the Seemandhra employees assembled outside the Samatha Block in the afternoon. They have been holding protests inside the Secretariat since the July 30 decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh. The Seemandhra employees decided to go into the agitation mode today to protest against the centre's sending of the Telangana draft bill to the state.

But the Seemandhra employees burning the effigy of senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh and tearing off the copies of draft bill infuriated their Telangana counterparts. Taking serious objections to the protest, they charged at the Seemandhra employees, sparking off fears of a free-for-all. Additional police forces were rushed to the secretariat as the face-off was threatening to turn nasty.

Even as the Secretariat premises reverberated with full-throated sloganeering, a few members of both sides were seen throwing punches at each other. The situation was finally brought under control with the arrival of additional police teams.