Setting aside their political differences, leaders of the Telugu Desam Party, YSR Congress, Congress and other organisations formed a United Front to jointly spearhead an agitation demanding establishment of the State capital in Rayalaseema.
Alleging discrimination against Rayalaseema, which remained backward for long, the leaders pledged in Padmasali Kalyana Mantapam at Proddatur to take to the warpath to launch a mass movement to exert pressure on the Centre and the State to consider their demand.
Rayalaseema was meted out a raw deal in allotment of irrigation water and it was backward on the industrial, education and health care, Proddatur MLA of YSRC Rachamallu Prasada Reddy said. The TDP, Congress and the YSRC should wage a united movement and people should widely take part in the stir for the capital, he added.
YSRC MLC C. Narayana Reddy stressed the need to draw the attention of President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the plight of Rayalaseema. The leaders should be prepared to quit their posts in pursuance of the goal, he said.
Former MLA and TDP leader Nandyala Varadarajulu Reddy recalled that the Krishna Pennar project was shelved in the past due to political reasons. The region would not have become drought-prone had the project been executed. He announced his support to an agitation for the development of Rayalaseema.
Former MLA and district TDP president Mallela Linga Reddy asserted that decentralisation would spur development. He demanded a central university, steel plant, upgradation of RIMS as AIIMS, setting up of industries based on barytes and other minerals in Kadapa district.
Congress leader Gorre Srinivasulu expressed the party’s support for a mass movement for the capital and alleged prolonged neglect of the region. Former Proddatur municipal chairman V. Gurivi Reddy wanted education and industrial development of the region.
Valuable mineral resources in Rayalaseema were plundered but the region was subjected to neglect in terms of development, he alleged.
