Vizinagaram/Vijaywada/Ongole: The entire coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions were on the boil since Friday after the Union Cabinet approved the creation of Telangana state, with a complete shutdown across all 13 districts.
In Vizianagaram protesters attacked the houses of state Congress president Botcha Satyanarayana and several other leaders. Police fought pitched battles with the agitators and fired 25 rounds of teargas shells to prevent them from targeting the house, college and a hotel of Satyanarayana.
The protesters set fire to a cable office run by one of Satyanarayana's relatives.
Protesters blocked roads with burning tyres and trees and stoned the houses of Congress leaders, including a hotel owned by Minister T.G. Venkatesh in Kurnool. The district Congress office was ransacked by a mob. A statue of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, was vandalised, and the BJP office was attacked.
Protests took a violent turn on Friday as agitators of political parties and Samakhyarashtra Parirakshana Samathi attacked central government offices in Kadapa, Jagan Mohan's stronghold.
Railway reservation counters were attacked while computers, server systems, LCD TVs and glass panels were broken at Kadapa railway station, after which the railway police arrested three persons.
Jayanti Janata Express, Arrakonam-Kadapa passenger train and a goods train were stopped for 30 minutes to one and half hours respectively at Kodur after Kodur MLA Srinivasulu led more than a thousand agitators, the police said.
S V Junior College window panes were broken when agitators threw stones at Kodur, while stones were pelted at private buses, damaging their window panes at Proddatur and Kadapa towns.
Agitators attacked and damaged Indira Bhavan, Congress party's Kadapa district office, while Congress workers burnt party flags and closed their office at Pulivendula.
Shops, cinemas, hotels, schools and colleges, petrol pumps and government offices remained closed across coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema.
A large number of vehicles were stranded on national highways, including the Kolkata-Chennai route. Many areas in West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur and Prakasam plunged into darkness as Electricity Department staff tripped sub-stations.
