Ongole: Thousands participate in Amaravati Parirakshana Praja Padayatra

Ongole: Thousands of people participated in the Amaravati Parirakshana Praja Padayatra by the Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi, with their bullock carts, tractors and organized a rally in Ongole town, to mark completion of one year of the protests by the farmers at Amaravati capital area.

The Telugu Desam Party Ongole parliamentary constituency president Dr Nukasani Balaji, CPM East Prakasam district secretary Punati Anjaneyulu, CPI Prakasam district secretary ML Narayana, Kisan Congress AP vice president Vallamreddy Rajagopal Reddy, and leaders from the Aam Admi Party and other Left parties along with farmers' associations also participated in the rally, that started from the Kurnool road fly-over and culminated at the collectorate.

TDP leader Nukasani Balaji said that the farmers had given 33000 acres for the construction of the capital at Amaravati and the then Opposition leader YS Jagan Mohan Reddy seconded the decision of the Chandrababu Naidu. He said that the YSRCP leaders are chanting the three capitals slogan just to make profits on their lands and business at Visakhapatnam and other places. He said that the women and farmers at Amaravati are agitating for the construction of the capital at Amaravati for the last 365 days, and daring the cases, atrocities by the government. He announced that the people across the State support the capital at Amaravati and no one can change it.

The TDP district general secretary Dr Raj Vimal Gurrala said that the YSRCP government claiming that the Amaravati capital movement is being done by the upper castes and Dalits has no land there. He said that most of the lands pooled for the capital belongs to Dalits, and it is Dalits in the State who voted for YSRCP more but it is also Dalits who are facing SC-ST atrocities cases in the rule of the government, just for agitating for the capital at Amaravati.

CPM leader Anjaneyulu said that his party is opposing the idea of three capitals. He said that due to this idea of the Chief Minister, the Union government is not giving any funds to the construction of the capital, and the State has lost investment opportunities from the big industries. He demanded the government to conduct a plebiscite on the three capitals idea and then go ahead as per the response of the people. Narayana said that Jagan Mohan Reddy has supported the announcement of the capital at Amaravati, but changed his opinion after coming to power.

He said that the State will not develop if every Chief Minister wants to shift the capital as per his interests. Rajagopal Reddy said that the Chief Minister is instigating differences between castes, districts, and regions for his political gain and added that the Congress party is condemning it. He said that YS Rajasekhar Reddy had continued the projects initiated by his predecessor Chandrababu Naidu, but his son Jagan Mohan Reddy who claims to follow his father's footsteps is not respecting the latter.