Hyderabad: Tension prevailed at a Hyderabad hospital Monday as a large number of pro-Telangana activists gathered and demanded that Congress MP L Rajagopal, on a fast against the proposed division of Andhra Pradesh, go back to Vijaywada hospital from where he slipped out Sunday night to surface here 15 hours later.
Rajagopal escaped from the Vijaywada hospital in coastal Andhra region where he was fasting, opposing a separate Telangana. He gave nearly 300 policemen deployed the slip and dramatically re-surfaced in Hyderabad Monday.
Armed policemen, including the paramilitary Rapid Action Force (RAF), were deployed at Nizam's Institue of Medical Sciences (NIMS) here and all roads leading towards the hospital were closed for traffic to prevent the protesters.
Activists of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and other pro-Telangana groups rushed to the NIMS after the word spread that the Vijayawada MP reached the hospital in a dramatic fashion, giving a new twist to ongoing protests over the proposed division of Andhra Pradesh.
Police used mild force and arrested some protesters, including women, who were raising slogans of "Jai Telangana".
The protests brought traffic to a halt around the NIMS in Panjagutta, the heart of the city and a commercial hub.
Rajagopal's senior Congress party leader and Rajya Sabha member V Hanumantha Rao has demanded that the government send back Rajagopal to maintain peace in Hyderabad.
"The fact that Rajagopal was caught on camera while running into the hospital proves that he has come to Hyderabad to provoke the people of Telangana," Rao told reporters in Delhi.
The leader warned that the presence of Andhra MP in Hyderabad would add to the tension and create law and order problems.
IANS
First Published: Monday, December 21, 2009, 18:44