With farmers of Amaravati capital region in Andhra Pradesh kick-starting their 61-days of “Amaravati to Arasavilli” padayatra on Monday, the ruling YSR Congress party has started a massive counter-attack.
Almost all the ministers and MLAs from north-coastal Andhra region have launched a broadside against the Telugu Desam Party, which is indirectly spearheading the agitation of the Amaravati farmers, ostensibly to get the political mileage.
If the farmers’ padayatra gets good response in the north-coastal Andhra or even if it passes off smoothly, it will be a big setback to the YSRC leadership, which is hell bent on creating three capital cities for the state.
Sources said there were clear instructions from the YSRC leadership to the leaders of north coastal Andhra that the farmers of Amaravati should not be allowed to complete their yatra and a strong message has to go into the people in their districts that the yatra is meant for disturbing their development.
That is why right from assembly speaker Tammineni Sitaram to ministers like Dharmana Prasada Rao, Botsa Satyanarayana, Seediri Appala Raju and Gudivada Amaranath – everybody has been going hammer and tongs at the padayatra.
“How can we allow the padayatra, which is aimed at taking away the rights of north coastal Andhra? Why should we give permission to the same?” Sitaram asked the other day.
On Monday, it was the turn of Dharmana, who said Amaravati issue was confined only to 29 villages, but TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu wants to project it as a state-wide problem.
“Naidu wants the people of backward north-Andhra region to work as labourers in Amaravati, which is the land of rich farmers,” he said.
He wondered whether the farmers of other areas should rejoice if the values of the lands of Amaravati farmers go up steeply.
“We have already made it clear that the state government is committed to all round development of all the regions equally,” he said.
Dharmana pointed out that the government would not allow the concentration of development in just one region, as had happened in the case of Hyderabad.
“This led to the formation of Telangana state. Does Naidu want yet another bifurcation of the state?” he asked.
