Chairman of the State Official Language Commission Mandali Buddha Prasad on Wednesday laid foundation stone for the centenary memorial pylon of the First Andhra Conference at the Town Hall in Bapatla.
At a meeting held here to oversee the arrangements for the centenary celebrations to be held later this month, Minister for Primary Education S. Sailajanath said the celebrations would seek to reinforce the notion that Telugu people belonged to one race. The sacrifices made by many people should not go waste and the spirit of the Andhra movement should be reignited, he added.
Former Minister Gade Venkat Reddy, former MP Ummareddy Venkateswarlu, Reception Committee convener P.C. Sai Babu, and Revenue Divisional Officer of Tenali V. Srinivasa Murthy were among others present.
The First Andhra Conference Centenary Bulletin, published by the Forum For Better Bapatla, was released by the Minister. The first Andhra Conference held here in May 2013 was a landmark in the struggle for creation of separate states on linguistic lines.
The urge of the Telugu people for a separate statehood was first forcefully displayed at this conference.
The conference was held at the renowned Edward VII Coronation Memorial Town Hall here and it was chaired by the then Member of Madras Legislative Council B.N. Sarma.
The conference was attended by many luminaries such as Nyapathi Subba Rao Pantulu , M. Adinarayanaiah, Mocherla Ramachandra Rao, and Vemavarapu Ramadas Pantulu.
The members moved a resolution at the open session demanding that a separate State be created, triggering a mass movement.
The movement culminated in the granting of statehood to Andhra Pradesh in the year 1953 after Gandhian Potti Sriramulu made the supreme sacrifice by fasting unto death.
