Lawmakers arrested at statehood protest in India
HYDERABAD, India — Police arrested about 50 people, including three lawmakers, during protests Wednesday demanding the creation of a new state in southern India
Shops and offices were shut and public transport was halted for a second day as statehood advocates pressed the government to act on their demand for a new state called Telengana be carved out of Andhra Pradesh
More than a dozen Parliament members and at least 80 state lawmakers in Andhra Pradesh have resigned in recent days to press the demands for creating the new state
Two state lawmakers and a member of Parliament were among those arrested during the demonstration in Hyderabad, the state capital, said A.K. Khan, a senior police official
The Telengana demand has erupted sporadically since the 1950s, but protests gained strength in 2009 when veteran politician K. Chandrasekhara Rao began a hunger strike
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