Protagonists of the unified State of Andhra Pradesh under the auspices of non-political joint action committee (JAC) have demanded that the second one-day international (ODI) cricket match between India and West Indies scheduled to be held here on November 24 be either cancelled or put off.
JAC chairman V. Bala Mohan Das, who is former vice chancellor of Acharya Nagarjuna University, told the media that by allowing a cricket match where more than 26,000 spectators would be seen celebrating, it would send a wrong signal to the Central government that the people of the region had given up their demand for a unified State and negate the 100-day long protests of people of all sections, including students, housewives, employees and businessmen.
He recalled that music director A.R. Rahman cancelled his programme in the city on their demand and felt that the BCCI and the ACA should also concede their demand not to conduct the match here. Prof. Bala Mohan Das appealed to the people of the region not to buy tickets for the ODI.
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Minister for Infrastructure Ganta Srinivas Rao had made the demand on Wednesday night in Hyderabad and said he was against the conduct of the cricket match here at the Andhra Cricket Association-Visakhapatnam District Cricket Association Cricket Stadium.
Minister in favour of match
However, Minister for Tribal Welfare P. Balaraju, who also hails from Visakhapatnam district, said that the international match should not be disturbed and added that local issues must be kept out of it.
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President of Andhra Cricket Association D.V. Subba Rao, when contacted, said he would not like to make any comment at this juncture. President of students JAC Adari Kishore Kumar said the ODI should not be disturbed.