Botcha, Purandeswari hail repeal

VISAKHAPATNAM: Speaking to newsmen here on Saturday, Satyanarayana said the Andhra Pradesh Assembly had passed a resolution to delete the clause and appealed to the Union government to approve it. Samaikyandhra students should not protest against the decision, he said.Meanwhile, Purandeswari said, “The Union government has taken the decision on the clause following a recommendation of the State Assembly and we have to accept it. It is unfortunate that Samaikyandhra students are protesting the repeal of the Clause.” However, protests rocked the port city on the issue. Samaikyandhra agitators staged novel protests to express their ire against Union and State governments. They took bath in front of the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation office and begged money from the passengers and locals near the Dwaraka bus station.Some agitators staged a protest in front of the Lok Satta Party (LSP) office at Chinawaltair after party president Jayaprakash Narayan welcomed the repeal of the clause and raised slogans against him.  Meanwhile, Samaikyandhra Students JAC members, who had started a hunger strike in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue near the GVMC office against the repeal of Clause 14(f) called off the strike following an appeal from various leaders.However, opposing the deletion of Clause 14(f) that made Hyderabad a free zone for employment, members of the Samaikyandhra Vidyarthi JAC continued their indefinite hunger strike in front of the Andhra University for second day on Saturday.Talking to media, convener of Samaikyandhra Vidyarthi JAC Lagudu Govind said despite their opposition, the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) had made the recommendation to repeal the clause only to protect the political interest of the Congress-led government at the Centre.  Stating that they would challenge the CCPA recommendation in the Supreme Court, he said ministers, MLAs, MPs and MLCs of the Seemandhra region would face serious consequences as they had failed to fight for the interest of the people of the region.Meanwhile, in Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts also, students of various colleges staged protests and burnt effigies of chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy in protest against the CCPA recommendation.