CPI (M) district unit demanded that 36 mandals in the district be declared drought-hit.
Party district secretary K. Prabhakar Reddy on Wednesday said only 12 mandals were declared as drought-hit, while more than half the district was affected by adverse seasonal conditions. They urged the Deputy Chief Minister K.E. Krishna Murthy, who belongs to Pathikonda mandal, to make use his good offices to ensure relief to the worst-affected mandals. The CPI (M) also planned a protest at MRO offices on February 2 to highlight the problem of drought-affected areas. Among other things, the party which conducted the 20th district conference recently urged the government to take steps for all-round development of the district . Also, the party urged the government to give priority to construction of highways in the sections of Kurnool-Guntur, Nandyal-Giddalur, Kurnool-Bellary, Tadipatri-Banaganapalli and Kurnool-Chittoor.