Adding that spiritual leaders like Sai Baba should confine themselves to practising spiritualism, Rao asked why was Baba insensitive to the plight of Telangana weavers and people of Nalgonda district who were suffering from chronic flourosis. "Has he ever thought of solving the problems of the people of Telangana?"
PCC president K Keshava Rao, however, said Sai Baba's comments were misinterpreted. "Every one, more so a great person like Sai Baba, has a right to his wisdom. There is no need to read politics into it. His statement is not political," he said.
In Puttaparthy, a bandh call was given by Sai Baba's followers who later organised a procession in the town and burnt effigies of the TRS president and balladeer Gaddar.
On Monday, some members of the Telangana Vidyarthi Sangham (TVS), a student outfit, gathered in front of Shivam, the Sai Baba temple, in Hyderabad and burnt his cutout. The protesters also gained entry into the temple and shouted slogans against Sai Baba.
Indian spiritual leader Sathya Sai Baba, 81, found himself embroiled in a political row after his recent remarks characterising the partition of the state of Andhra Pradesh (AP) as a "great sin". 

On a recent visit to Chennai he publicly spoke out against the proposed partition of India's fourth largest state, calling such a move a "mahapapam" (great sin) and claimed that there was no demand from the people to bifurcate AP into Telangana and Andhra states. 

The comments caused an outcry among pro-Telangana activists who angrily voiced their protests in street marches and attacks on the Sivam building, the Baba's temple in Hyderabad, which was staffed by a few devotees. Shouting anti-Sai Baba slogans, the protestors pulled down a large picture of the holy man and trampled on it before taking it outside and setting it on fire. An effigy of the Baba was also reported to have been burnt, and twenty protestors were arrested following several police complaints.