Hyderabad, Jan. 31: The new Indian Institute of Technology to be set up in Andhra Pradesh has set off a tug-of-war over the site, with blockades, marches and signature campaigns.

Politicians from Medak and Adilabad, both demanding that the institute be built in their district, today blocked the Hyderabad-Nagpur national highway.

In 2002, the Telugu Desam Party government had got a unanimous resolution passed in the Assembly saying the IIT should come up in the temple town of Basar in Adilabad. But when the Centre approved the institute in November 2006, the state’s current Congress government decided in favour of Medak as a tribute to Indira Gandhi who contested and won a Lok Sabha seat from there in 1980.

Last month, the Telengana Rashtra Samiti and the BJP staged a dharna in Adilabad, with many of their legislators offering to resign their seats to build pressure on chief minister Y.R.S. Reddy. They even drafted in MPs and legislators from Nanded, the neighbouring district in Maharashtra, to support their cause.

But last Sunday, the Congress fought back by staging a march from Patancheru in Medak to Hyderabad. The marchers, led by state tourism minister Geetha Reddy, handed YSR a memorandum carrying the signatures of thousands of Medak residents, demanding the IIT in their district.

“Medak is closer to Hyderabad. There is better connectivity, especially with a new international airport coming up. There will be no water problem,” the tourism minister argued.

But her party colleague and labour minister, G. Vinod, who is from Adilabad, doesn’t agree. “I believe the IIT should be in Basar and cater to the needs of rural students rather than only the city folks of Hyderabad,” he said.