Are United Andhra votaries planning to fuel passions among farmers and such sections in Seemandhra to continue the ongoing Samaikyandhra movement? Have they decided to focus on ‘sharing of river waters’ between the two proposed states after bifurcation to provoke farmers of Seemandhra?
According to informed sources, such a plan is being worked out by a top leader of the state Congress to sustain the 37-day-old agitation which is expected to fizzle out after the APNGOs’ Saturday meeting.
As the agitation has so far been largely dominated by government employees and urban crowd, some Seemandhra Congress heavyweights are afraid that it will soon lose steam once the APNGOs’ meeting ends. They believe the movement can be continued for a longer period only if farmers and villagers take part in it.
“Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy is already focusing his argument on the water issue. The other day when farmers from Anantapur district had met him, he categorically said there would be water wars between the two regions once the state was bifurcated,” a senior minister told Express.
He pointed out that Kiran had said Rayalaseema will more or less become a desert after division. “The same argument will be used by some more leaders of the Congress henceforth to make the United Andhra sentiment percolate down to the grassroots,” he revealed. The minister felt a large section of farmers of Andhra and Rayalaseema regions were not actively taking part in the Samaikyandhra stir as they are busy with agricultural works following abundant rainfall. He said these farmers will soon find more leisure once the sowing season is over.
Meanwhile, a Seemandhra minister from weaker sections, who is for division of the state, recently wrote a letter to the Congress high command offering some suggestions. He advised it to hold a meeting with the party’s Seemandhra lawmakers from the downtrodden classes and explain to them how bifurcation will help them get political power.
After that, according to his suggestion, all these lawmakers should be asked to make a declaration backing the party’s decision to bifurcate AP. Another advice he had offered was that the APCC should be bifurcated in tune with the CWC decision so as to send a clear message that T-decision is irrevocable.
He felt if Chief Minister Kiran Reddy emerged as a champion of United Andhra with his aggressive posture, PCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana’s image has taken a beating with his “flip-flop” on the same. Hence, the minister suggested the AICC leadership to look towards another strong leader from Seemandhra to make the party leaders from the region fall in line. He also suggested that special status be accorded to Hyderabad.
Why red carpet for Naidu?
Sympathisers of Telangana movement among Seemandhra Congress leaders are wondering how could TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, who had given consent letter to the Centre for bifurcation of AP, go on his bus yatra through Seemandhra without any hitch. “When Naidu had tried to undertake a similar yatra in Telangana he faced severe resistance. Same was the case with YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and Vijayamma when they had tried to tour T-region. But, the same intensity is not being witnessed in Seemandhra now,” a Seemandhra minister from weaker sections said.
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