TIRUPATI: A day before the public meeting of the Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi in support of Amaravati as the sole capital of Andhra Pradesh at Damineedu on the outskirts of Tirupati, hundreds of college students and youth under the aegis of Rayalaseema Intellectuals Forum (RIF) took out a huge rally in the temple town on Thursday extending their support to the three-capital plan of the State government.
Gandhi Road in the temple town reverberated with slogans of students demanding that the State government locate High Court in Kurnool and develop three capitals for balanced regional growth. The rally started from Krishnapuram police station and ended at the Tirupati municipal corporation office.
Speaking on the occasion, RIF convenor M Purushotham Reddy urged the government to consider the aspirations of Rayalaseema people and set up the High Court or Secretariat or Assembly in the region. He said that the government should complete the drinking water and irrigation projects such as Handri Neeva Sujala Sravanthi, Siddeshwaram and others on Krishna river at the earliest for the development of the backward Rayalaseema region.
Better package to farmers soon: Andhra Pradesh minister Botcha Satyanarayana
He demanded that TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan and BJP State president Somu Veerraju, Congress and Left party leaders should clarify their stand on the development of Rayalaseema region before extending their support to the cause of Amaravati as the sole capital of Andhra Pradesh. However, he maintained that the RIF has no objection to the meeting being organised by the Amaravati JAC in Tirupati.
Alleging that some parties were following double standards, he said the BJP, which on one hand in its declaration underlined the need for setting up a second capital in Rayalaseema, on the other hand was supporting Amaravati as the sole capital of Andhra Pradesh.
Meanwhile, Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister Botcha Satyanarayana termed Amaravati farmers' meeting in Tirupati a TDP political meet. He said right from the beginning of Amaravati padayatra from Thulluru to Tirumala, it was TDP leaders and cadres who participated in it.
Was there any genuine farmer who took part in the padayatra? he questioned. He reiterated that Chief Minister is committed to development of all the 13 districts in three regions.
He asserted that as promised by the previous TDP regime, the State government is committed to developing Amaravati and allotting developed plots and pensions to farmers who surrendered their lands for the capital project. The government will provide a better package than what was promised by the previous TDP regime to farmers, he added.