Rayalaseema Parirakshna Samiti took out a rally commemorating the completion of 60 years of capital formation at Kurnool on Tuesday. The rally touched all heritage buildings that played a pivotal role during the period.
The present District Court served as Andhra Assembly between 1953 and 1956, Medical College as the Secretariat, KVR College as the Governor Bungalow and the STBC Ground where the formation of Andhra State was announced.
President of the Samiti Byreddy Rajasekhar Reddy, who led the rally, lamented that it was a blunder to allow shifting of the capital to Hyderabad. All the wealth generated by the State and individuals in the last 60 years was dumped in Hyderabad while the areas such as Kurnool remained in the same state what it had been in the ’50.
Had the capital remained at Kurnool, the face of the district and the neighbouring districts would have been completely changed. It would have helped the entire Rayalaseema to make progress economically and politically.
He urged the Central government to establish status quo ante by shifting the capital to Kurnool once the bifurcation was effected. Because of the blunder of developing Hyderabad at the cost of all other areas in the State, the entire agitation was hovering around Hyderabad and retaining it as the capital of unified Andhra Pradesh.
He wanted the public to understand the fact that the issues of Rayalaseema were getting drowned in the din of Samaikhyandra. People would realize their mistake only after the present movement subsided. Wisdom should prevail at least on the leadership who should guide the people properly.
New Capital
He pointed out that Coastal Andhra leaders were planning to set up the Andhra capital at Mangalagiri while investors from Rayalaseema were vying with each other to grab the land for future profits rather than visualising the future of their region.
Various bodies supporting separate Rayalaseema like Rayalaseema JAC, Student JAC, individual leaders such as Venugopal, Ramesh, Balasundaram, K.V. Subba Reddy and others participated.
