Hyderabad: A general alert was sounded in Hyderabad and 13 districts of Seemandhra (Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra) as the central cabinet approved the draft Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill on the bifurcation of the state by carving out a separate Telangana state.
A total of 71 companies of central security forces have been deployed in various parts of coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema.
Companies of Central Reserve Police Force were also deployed in Vijayawada, Tirupati and Rajahmundry. State-owned buses have been confined to depots in Kurnool district.
Special police forces have been deployed outside the residences of Union ministers. Among the leaders whose houses have been fortified with security in the districts included those of Union Ministers J.D. Seelam and Panabaka Laxmi, State Ministers Anam Ramnarayan Reddy, D. Manikya Varaprasad and Kanna Laxminarayana, MPs Chinta Mohan and Rayapati Sambasiva Rao and former BJP president M. Venkaiah Naidu.
