Hyderabad, July 13: The fast-unto-death by pro-Telangana students demanding statehood to the region entered the third day today at Osmania University (OU) campus here, even as the educational bandh call across Telangana districts evoked a mixed response.
The Telangana Student Joint Action Committee (TS-JAC), which gave a mass indefinite hunger strike call in support of a separate Telangana state, had also called for educational bandh across Telangana districts.
Four out of the around 50 pro-Telangana students who were on an indefinite fast in front of the Arts College building at the OU campus were shifted to Gandhi Hospital after their health condition “deteriorated”, a doctor who checked their health said.
The situation on the OU campus which otherwise has been rocked by violent protests in the past few days was peaceful today with no untoward incidents reported.
Meanwhile, BJP leader and former Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, who visited the hunger camp, expressed solidarity with the fasting students.
“Doctors who checked the condition of the fasting students have said that their condition is serious. Police forces have sieged the entire OU campus. Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy should look into this matter,” he said and demanded that the Centre immediately bring a bill in the Parliament on formation of separate Telangana state.
The BJP leader was among others who were later taken into preventive custody.
Meanwhile, the OU-JAC call for educational bandh across Telangana districts including the state capital evoked mixed response as private schools and colleges remained closed in various parts of Hyderabad.
Though colleges affiliated to Osmania University in Hyderabad and educational institutions surrounding Osmania University also remained shut, educational institutions functioned normally elsewhere in the city.
In view of the bandh call, private educational institutions had yesterday itself declared a holiday in Hyderabad.
–Agencies