Former Minister T.G. Venkatesh on Friday led a protest staged at the Mahatma Gandhi statue near the Zilla Parishad office here, demanding that the State be granted special category status at the earliest and a special package is granted to Rayalaseema.
Mr. Venkatesh, the founder-president of Rayalaseema Uttarandhra Hakkula Aikya Vedika, also said that the capital region of Amarvati must be declared a free zone for educational and employment opportunities and wanted a summer capital be set up in Rayalaseema, warning that a separatist agitation would crop up leading to trifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, if Rayalaseema and north coastal Andhra districts were neglected. . “Despite being in the TDP, I will lead peaceful agitations for special status and special package, industrial development, completion of irrigation projects,” he said.
