An all-party meeting jointly convened by the Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi Joint Action Committee (JAC) and Rythu Aikya Karyacharana Samithi (United Farmers’ Action Committee) on Thursday resolved to scale up the ongoing agitation in support of Amaravati as the sole capital of the State into a mass movement.
Members of the Amaravati JAC, farmers’ organisations, representatives of various political parties, leaders of student, youth and women organisations were unanimous in their view that there was a need to intensify the agitation and spread it to every nook and cranny of the State.
The protests launched by the Amaravati farmers and local residents will complete 365 days on December 17.
The all-party meeting was organised to chalk out an action plan for intensification of the protest in a manner that not just the organisations but people across the State participated in it. They called for meetings across the 13 districts of the State to educate people at the grassroots on the need to retain Amaravati as the single capital and make them active part of the movement.
Samithi convener A. Sivareddy and co-convener Gadde Tirupati Rao said a series of protest programmes would be conducted to mark the completion of one year.
‘Praja padayatra’
A ‘praja padayatra’ would be organised in Guntur on December 12 and in Vijayawada on December 15. On December 17, a public meeting would he organised at the place where the foundation stone was laid for construction of Amaravati.
Mr. Sivareddy said the protests would continue till the government dropped its plan to shift the capital to Visakhapatnam and make a public announcement that Amaravati would be retained as the sole capital of the State.
Senior CPI(M) leader P. Madhu said his party would support the farmers’ cause. TDP Polit Bureau member Varla Ramaiah said he was confident that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy would soon rectify his mistake by withdrawing his proposed three-capital formula.
CPI State secretary K. Ramakrishna said the fact that the government was unable to make any headway on the issue was proof of the strength of the farmers’ agitation.
The farmers’ organisation convener Puvvada Sudhakar, former Vijayawada Mayor Jandhyala Shankar, Congress party working president Mastan Vali, and Telugu Rythu president M. Srinivasa Reddy were among others who spoke.
