Former Union Minister of State for Railways Kotla Jayasuryaprakash Reddy asserted on Tuesday that he would undertake a 140-km padayatra from Pothireddipadu head regulator to the Srisailam reservoir in September last week.
A round table conference would be held with leaders of all parties of the four Rayalaseema districts besides Nellore and Prakasam districts in September third week, Mr. Reddy told the media in Kurnool. His padayatra was to demand maintenance of 854 feet water level in the Srisailam reservoir and construction of the 45 tmcft Siddheswaram and 20 tmcft Gundrevula projects, he said.
The UPA government enacted the A.P. Reorganisation Act which provided for 17 institutions in the State, but no institution had come up so far, Mr. Jayasuryaprakash Reddy said. The midlife railway coach factory, for which compensation was paid in the Congress rule, was yet to see the light of the day.
‘Naidu, Jagan betraying Rayalaseema’
APCC vice-president N. Thulasi Reddy accused Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Opposition Leader Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy of betraying the backward Rayalaseema region.
The Shribagh pact stipulated establishment of capital in one region and the High Court in another region and accordingly Kurnool was made capital in 1953 and the High Court was set up at Guntur, when Andhra got separated from Madras State.
However, though the capital as well as High Court were being established at Amaravati by Mr. Chandrababu Naidu, Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy did not demand location of the High Court in Kurnool, Mr. Thulasi Reddy said.
Jaganmohan Reddy was also not raising the demand for a steel plant in Kadapa, Mr. Thulasi Reddy said.
Under the A.P. Reorganisation Act, Rayalaseema and north coastal Andhra regions were promised a special package of Rs. 24,350 crore, but the Central government merely released Rs. 1,050 crore. Completion of the Telugu Ganga, Galeru Nagari, Handri Neeva and Velugodu projects was promised by December this year.
Nearly 80 to 90 per cent of the project works were completed in the Congress rule, the PCC leader said.
If Andhra Pradesh was granted special status, it would get benefits worth Rs. 5 lakh crore and progress industrially.
Neither the BJP nor the TDP was keen on implementation of the A.P. Reorganisation Act and the parties must be ousted from power in the 2019 elections, he said.
YSRC activists join Congress
Congress MLC M. Sudhakar Babu said the Chief Minister’s promises of giving 45 tmcft of water to Rayalaseema through Pattiseema lift-irrigation scheme was dubious. Central funds granted for development of Rayalaseema were diverted to Andhra area, he alleged. The padayatra would mark the beginning of another intensive stir, he added.
YSR Congress leader Shabbir and 100 youth activists joined the Congress on the initiative of Congress Minority Cell chairman Ahmed Ali Khan.
