The Telugu Desam Party staged a dharna demanding that the State government provide the city the status of Greater Vijayawada, here on Saturday.
The TDP leaders criticised Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal, alleging him of bringing disgrace to the constituency that was represented by great leaders like K. L. Rao. The Member of Parliament became the biggest hurdle to the development of city, and he has no concern for the city as he was a non-local, they said.
Mr. Rajagopal has become a visiting MP and does not show any interest in addressing the issues like expansion of Gananvaram airport, and super specialty hospital, and he even opposed the flyover near Kanaka Durga temple for his vested interests, they added.
The government was hesitating to announce Greater Vijayawada though the population had crossed 10 lakh. The elected representatives were coming up with baseless and fancy reasons that the city need not be announced as Greater Vijayawada as it was developed under JNNURM programme. The Congress leaders claim that Vijayawada witnessed development as never before under the JNNURM.
In reality, the city was pushed into a debt trap after the JNNURM programme was implemented, they pointed out.
The population of neighbouring villages and Mangalagiri town were shown as city population to tap the JNNURM funds, but it did not serve the purpose, they said and demanded that the government initiate a process for declaring the city Greater Vijayawada.
Mylavaram MLA and TDP district president Devineni Umamaheswara Rao, TDP Vijayawada parliamentary constituency in-charge Kesineni Srnivas (Nani), TDP Urban president K. Nagul Meera, TDP Vijayawada (West) in-charge Buddha Venkanna, TDP Vijayawada (Central) in-charge Bonda Umamaheswara Rao, TDP Vijayawada (East) in-charge Gadde Rammohan Rao, Urban secretary Songa Ravindra Varma, UDA former chairman Tumati Premnath and others spoke.
