Ministers, MLAs, MLCs and senior leaders of the Congress party will come to the city on Saturday to arrive at a consensus on a united Andhra Pradesh for the first time since the issue erupted after December 9, 2009. This will also be the first such meeting to be held outside Hyderabad.
Leaders and elected representatives who do not want the State to be divided have been speaking in individual voices till now, and the primary objective of meeting, to be held at I.V. Palace, is to unite the stray voices that have been saying that division would be counter-productive to every one.
The meeting will also help the Congress to speak with a “single voice” when elected representatives of Seemandhra area meet the party high command in New Delhi next week.
The statements being made by the Congress Party's Central leaders are currently conducive to demands for a united state, buy the pressure form various quarters on the elected representatives to resign to prevent the Central Government from “taking any hasty steps” is increasing. Students of Seemandhra area are already raising a hue and cry.
Seemandhra MLAs and MLCs Forum convenor S. Shailajanath, former Ministers J.C.Diwakar Reddy, Gadde Venkata Reddy have announced that they would attend the meeting. Congress Legislative Party deputy leader and party official spokesperson Paladugu Venkata Rao has also said that he would attend the meeting.
Active role
The all party Krishna district Samaikyandhra Joint Action Committee which has been taking an active role has been “strategically put on hold” to make the meeting an all Congress affair.
Vijayawada has been the political capital of the State with the seeds for the Visalandhra struggle germinating here under the leadership of former Chief Minister Burugula Ramakrishna Rao and others.
The movement for a separate state for the Telugus in 1913 was also born here.
Former Minister Mandali Buddha Prasad one of the key persons organising the meeting felt that it was only proper that the meeting for a united Andhra Pradesh should be held in Vijayawada.
Meanwhile, the Andhra Joint Action Committee demanding the division of the State for a separate Andhra state held a roundtable conference here on Friday and demanded that a Bill for the separation of the state be introduced in Parliament in the very next session.
It also demanded the constitution of an experts committee for the establishment of a capital for the new Andhra state.
