Hyderabad/Visakhapatnam :  The 13 districts of coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema went for a shut down from today for the next 72 hours following a bandh call given by Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress and  various other outfits to protest the Union Cabinet’s approval of the division of Andhra Pradesh into India’s  29th new state Telangana.

Tension prevailed in large parts of Seemandhra as news came in about the cabinet approving the creation of separate Telangana state.

People came out on to the streets in large numbers shouting slogans for Samaikyandhra,

Students came out of campuses in procession, statues of Rajiv Gandhi and Indira Gandhi were vandalised and effigies of Congress leaders were burnt.

The residences of ruling Congress MPs from the two regions were under siege from furious anti-Telangana protesters, even as several Congress MPs resigned from the primary membership of the party.

All bus services to the hill town of Tirumala has been suspended from Friday morning. The RTC employees’ organisations resolved to bring the Central services also to a halt.

The electricity employees announced that they will take a decision on snapping power supply in the next few days.

In Delhi, a group of Seemandhra students tried to barge into the Prime Minister’s residence at 7, Race Course Road., a few hours before the crucial Cabinet meeting. Local police arrested the agitators.

Police across Andhra Pradesh were put on high alert and director general of police B. Prasada Rao held a video conference with all the regional IGs and district police officials.

He said additional forces would be deployed if the situation warranted it but cautioned police to respond with restraint.

Though Telugu Desam have not officially called for a bandh, but their leaders have been told to lead the agitation from the front in their respective areas.

Party chief N. Chandrababu Naidu said that he would wait for another 24 hours for the Centre to come out with an action plan and then announce the party’s course of action.

Amalapuram Congress MP G.V. Harshakumar urged agitators to shut down rail and gas distribution networks.

There were some tense moments in Anantapur, the epicentre of the unified state agitation, when thousands of students marched out of the Srikrishna Devaraya University campus towards Anantapur town.

Samaikyandhra activists ransacked a telecom exchange and attacked the State Bank of India ATM at Gorantla, the native village of Hindupur MP Nimmala Kristappa.

The mob demanded to know why Kistappa had not resigned.