industry shutdown in tech town

Protesters leading a massive public sector strike that has caused power cuts, delayed trains and shut schools threatened on Monday to shut down business in one of India's leading technology industry cities for a day later this week.

The two-week-long strike involving an estimated 800,000 workers is a growing headache for the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, already on the defensive over high inflation and graft scandals stalling economic reforms.

The strikers, including miners at 50 coal pits, want the government carry out a promise to divide the state of Andhra Pradesh in two, giving statehood to the region of Telangana.

"This movement is not going to relent. I am appealing to people to fight till we achieve Telangana state," said K. Chandrasekhara Rao, who heads the movement that revived the movement for a separate state a decade ago.

Whatever the government's decision, it will likely make enemies over the Telangana issue, since many in Andhra Pradesh do not want the state to be split.

If the strikers' demands are met, the city of Hyderabad, home to the Indian headquarters of global firms such as Microsoft and Google , would fall within the new state.