With the entire Seemandhra region already on fire following announcement of the formation of Telangana, TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao’s comment – that all non-Telangana employees would have to pack up and leave once the state is formed – has acted as gasoline. Protests intensified several notches on Saturday.

Meanwhile, feeling “betrayed” by the Congress for deciding to create a separate Telangana state, supporters of united Andhra Pradesh in Seemandhra region on Saturday vented their anger on the ruling party’s ‘icons’: statues of former prime ministers Indira and Rajiv Gandhi. A few statues of the country’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, were also damaged, according to reports reaching here from different parts of the state. At some places in Kurnool and Tirupati, the statues were set on fire, while at other places they were pulled down and dragged on the streets.

Earlier, on Friday evening, addressing a gathering of pro-Telangana employees, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president Chandrasekhar Rao, widely known as KCR, asserted that government employees from non-Telangana regions have to go to Andhra once the state of Telangana is formed. “There are no options here. The government must run in Andhra too. The employees from that region...they have to work in that government and our Telangana employees would work in our government," he said.

The Telugu Desam Party and others have condemned KCR’s comments, emphasising that such posturing goes against the basic principle the Centre applies for cadre allotment for state employees.

Pulling up the TRS chief for creating an unnecessary controversy at a time tempers are already running high, suspended TRS member and MP Vijayshanti said KCR is playing “negative politics” and should avoid it. With Rao's remarks being interpreted as employees from Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra have to go ‘home’ after the formation of Telangana, TDP MP Nama Nageswara Rao, who belongs to the region, said, "Telangana is not the fiefdom of the TRS president."

Former TRS MLA and senior leader Harish Rao, however, said KCR had only stated the rule position concerning employees post-bifurcation.

Statues of Congress iconic leaders vandalised

"The Congress party has betrayed us. We will teach them a lesson," an agitator said as he set a statue of Rajiv Gandhi on fire in Anantapur. The protestors engaged in a pitched battle with the police at several places for more than four hours, protesting the bifurcation announcement. A statue of Indira Gandhi was vandalised at Indiramma colony near Mamillapalli village on the outskirts of Kadapa town.

At Proddatur, agitators observed a shutdown and left a Rajiv Gandhi statue partially damaged. Two statues of Rajiv Gandhi were vandalised in West Godavari and Visakhapatnam districts.

The protestors formed rallies, human chains, blocked traffic on road and trains besides burning effigies of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and other party leaders. Similar scenes are being reported from across nine districts of coastal Andhra and four districts of Rayalaseema.

At Bapatla in Guntur district, protestors laid siege to the house of central minister Panabaka Lakshmi and demanded her resignation. In Tenali, protestors gheraoed the house of Assembly speaker N Manohar.

In Guntur town, an unidentified young man attempted self-immolation but was arrested. Unidentified people set on fire the Bharatiya Janata Party office in the town.

Protests also continued in West Godavari district for the third consecutive day. In Jangareddygudem, protestors damaged a statue of Rajiv Gandhi.

Offices of zilla parishad, mandal revenue office and post office were ransacked and furniture set on fire at several places. In Kadiri, offices of both the Congress and BJP were attacked. Though protests were limited to dharnas, road blockades and burning of Sonia and Rajiv Gandhi’s effigies in Kurnool and Tirupati, a car parked on road was set on fire near the government bus terminus in Tirupati.

Protestors detained the Tirupati-Guntakal passenger train was for 15 minutes at Pakala railway station in Chittoor. The Chennai-bound Patna Express was also detained for about 15 minutes at Nellore. The response to the bandh was near total in Tirupati, Chittoor, Kurnool and partial in Nellore and Kadapa districts.