'State, Union govt neglected development of north Andhra'

Visakhapatnam: Leaders from different parties, professors and intellectuals took part in a debate over 'what do the people of north Andhra wish for?' was organised under the banner 'Utharandhra Charcha Vedika' here on Saturday. Both the state and Central government neglect the development of North Andhra, the participants, including former ministers Ch Ayyanna Patrudu and Konathala Ramakrishna, Jayaprakash Narayan of Lok Satta, Nadendla Manohar of JSP, APCC president Gidugu Rudraraju, K Ramakrishna of CPI, Prof KS Chalam and V Srinivasa Rao of CPM, of the debate opined.

Be it the implementation of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 in letter and spirit or establishing a new railway zone, both the Centre and the state government neglected them, they pointed out. They decided to draft an action plan and take the development of North Andhra forward. Except the leaders from the ruling party, leaders from TDP, JSP, Congress, CPI, CPM and Lok Satta attended the event. Meanwhile, IT Minister Gudivada Amarnath expressed ire over the debate in a media conference. "Those who attended the meeting were the dark room leaders. They organised the meeting to make TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu Chief Minister. Those who are no way connected to north Andhra ended up speaking about its development," Amarnath pointed out.

He questioned the participants of the leaders why they have not debated over Visakhapatnam becoming the executive capital. "Come April 1, the port city is all set to become the executive capital any time," Amarnath clarified. Speaking about Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, Amarnath pointed out that KCR was competing with KA Paul in Andhra Pradesh.