Seemandhra Ministers’ wives, family members jump on to bandwagon

Memorandum submitted to Governor against bifurcation of the State

The delegation of wives and family members of Seemandhra Ministers and elected representatives after submitting a memorandum to the Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan at Raj Bhavan, in Hyderabad on Tuesday. Photo: Mohammed Yousuf

It was the turn of better halves of Seemandhra Ministers to come together and petition Governor E. S. L. Narasimhan against bifurcation of the State on Tuesday.

In an effort to pressure the Congress party’s central leadership to reconsider its decision on division of Andhra Pradesh, a delegation of wives of Seemandhra Ministers and elected representatives besides family members of the TDP and the YSR Congress met the Governor at the Raj Bhavan.

This is the first time in recent times that family members of Ministers and public representatives have come out openly on the issue of bifurcation. It may be mentioned here that Vani, wife of Minister for Registration Thota Narasimham is on indefinite fast in Kakinada protesting bifurcation.

The initiative it is understood was taken by Dr. Moksha Prasuna, wife of Minister for School Education S. Sailajanath. Kamala (wife of Minister Parthasarathy), Babu Meenakshi (P.Viswaroop), Rajyalakshmi (T.G.Venkatesh) and Sasikala Devi (Satrucharla Vijayaramaraju) and Sucharita Reddy (family member of Finance Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy) were part of the delegation. Spouses of some more Ministers appended their signatures to the petition.

In the three-page memorandum presented to Mr. Narasimhan, they urged that the Congress drop the plan of dividing the State. They listed the difficulties that are likely to be faced if the State is divided.

Ms. Sucharita Reddy recalled how difficult it was when Andhra State was carved out of Madras. “We cannot forget the hardships after the State was divided,” she remarked.

Fate of children

Dr. Prasuna was more forthright and sought to know what would be the fate of their children. “What will happen to the education and employment opportunities for the children? All these days, they have studied in Hyderabad and if they go to other state, they would automatically become non-locals,” she remarked. “Why should the State be divided keeping an eye on votes and seats,” she questioned.

Ms. Kamala said that they would try and meet Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and present a memorandum. She said they would step up their activities and also meet the A.K. Antony Committee.