The backwardness of North Andhra and unfulfilled promise of special category status will again be to the fore in the reorganised Andhra Pradesh.
Uttarandhra Charcha Vedika (North Andhra Discussion Forum) is organising a seminar on at Andhra University in Visakhapatnam on May 21.
Former MP and minister Konathala Ramakrishna would preside over the meeting to be attended by Congress party State president N. Raghuveera Reddy, CPI State secretary K. Ramakrishna, Communist Party of India(Marxist) State secretary P. Madhu, former Vice Chancellor K.V.Ramana, and retired engineer S. Satyanarayana, among others.
Lok Satta founder Jayaprakash Narayan, who proposed special category status to North Andhra during the State bifurcation in the State Assembly and got the support of main political parties Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party, would be the chief guest.
After bifurcation, when the ruling parties in the Centre and State made it clear that it would not be possible to give special category status to the new state, then Mr. Jayaprakash Narayan proposed that if not for the entire State, then special category status be given on the basis of backward districts. Such a proposal would not be opposed by other States too, he said.
But with the State and Central governments not paying heed to the suggestion, Andhra Pradesh was given a package without any industrial incentives, said Lok Satta 2.0 in a release.
Protest
Recently, Lok Satta Andhra Pradesh State president Bheesetty Babji undertook a protest at Visakhapatnam as none of the 35 assurances given for the development of North Andhra on the floor of the State Assembly was implemented.
Lok Satta release said that it was working with various parties and organisations for the comprehensive development of North Andhra.
