Scores of students gather at OU campus for separate Telangana

Hundreds of students on Monday gathered outside the Osmania University in Hyderabad and raised slogans in support of the Telangana demand on the second-day of the 48-hour bandh called by the TRS, even as three legislators and an MLC were taken into preventive custody.

Hundreds of students on Monday gathered outside the Osmania University in Hyderabad and raised slogans in support of the Telangana demand on the second-day of the 48-hour bandh called by the TRS, even as three legislators and an MLC were taken into preventive custody.

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TRS MLA Harish Rao, E Rajender and BJP floor leader in the assembly G Kishan Reddy were taken into custody along with a MLC when they arrived in the campus in Hyderabad, where more than 500 students launched a relay hunger strike in support of a separate Telangana state.

Rants of 'Jai Telangana' filled the air at Maniskeshwar Nagar locality as students proceeded towards the OU campus raising slogans pressing for the separate statehood.

Police cane-charged protesting students to disperse the crowd.

Moreover, heavy security was witnessed inside the OU campus with large number of armed policemen including Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel frisking entrants and checking identity cards to prevent any sort of violence.

Student leaders, demanding withdrawal of police force alleged that their presence in the university grounds was part of the government's ploy to suppress the peaceful agitation "undemocratically" and staged road blockades in various parts of the city.