Former Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer Metta Rama Rao alleged that successive governments have ignored North Andhra’s development in spite of the region having many natural resources including major rivers like Vamsadhara, Nagavali and others.
He said that the leaders of the region were never given chance to highlight the injustice meted out to Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and other parts of the region as Chief Ministers hailed from other areas. Speaking to The Hindu here, he said that he would launch the Jai Uttarandhra Party after the Sankranti festival with the goal of achieving self-reliance for the people of the backward districts.
An engineering graduate, Mr. Rama Rao hails from Nandigama mandal in Srikakulam district and had scored the 104th rank in the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination and had held various positions in Patna, Hyderabad, New Delhi and other places. He took voluntary retirement from service while working as an Additional Secretary-cadre officer in the Union Government. Mr. Rama Rao, who unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha elections from Srikakulam constituency on a Jana Sena Party (JSP) ticket in 2019, said it is his strong belief that a separate political party for North Andhra would be the right platform to work towards achieving the goal of a separate State for the region.
“Deficiency of quality leadership is the root cause of all problems plaguing the region. That is why I want to start Jai Uttarandhra Party. We will approach the Central Election Commission soon for the registration of the new party. Meanwhile, we will focus on meetings with intellectuals in all the districts of the region,” he said.
On the party’s agenda would be issues like drawing of Godavari water till Itchapuram in Srikakulam district, retaining Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) in the public sector, ensuring the establishment of a separate railway zone and division, Mr. Rama Rao said.
Development of tourism across the coastal areas and putting a halt to extraction of mineral wealth by other regions will also be included in the manifesto. Skill-oriented education would be provided to all youngsters to achieve self-reliance and get good jobs both in private and government sectors, he said.
