Kakinada, Dec 18th: Praja Rajyam Party Kothapet MLA Bandaru Satyananda Rao and 69 others were taken into preventive custody at Ravulapalem on Dec 18 when they squatted on the national highway, paralyzing vehicular traffic for over two hours. Agitators numbering over 3,000, led by the MLA, blocked the road and defied repeated warnings by police to not block the highway. ''We were left with no other alternative except taking the MLA along with 69 others into preventive custody to clear the national highway,'' police sources said. 

The police also chased away the agitators, who set fire to the MRO’s office at Ravulapalem, using mild force. In the district headquarters Kakinada city also, the police arrested ZPTC member Nurukurti Venkateswerlu for attacking the district treasury office along with a group of integrationists and pelting stones, damaging doors and window screens. In Dwarapudi, the agitators staged 'rail roko' stir squatting on the track and detained the Guntur-bound Simhadri express for over 20 minutes. According to information reaching the district police headquarters, students staged dharnas at 12 places, 'rasta rokos' at 11 places, relay fasts at 60 places. Six activists each commenced fast unto death stir, seeking integrated Andhra Pradesh, at Malkipuram and Razole in Konaseema.