Jagan lacks guts to seek special status for AP, says Somireddy

Nellore: Agriculture Minister Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy criticised YSR Congress Party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy for having no guts to ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sanction Special Category Status (SCS) to Andhra Pradesh. 

Somireddy participated in a programme in Nellore on Sunday and lambasted Jagan for demanding Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to exert pressure on the Centre for SCS.

“Jagan has no courage to demand the Centre and the Prime Minister to accord the Special Status to the State and has been showing it as a failure of the State government.

If the Opposition leader has guts, he should pressurise the Union government for the status pointing out their mistake. We are asking about legitimate rights promised during bifurcation. We shall continue our fight till we achieve them,” the Minister said.

Further, the Minister said Jagan lacked awareness on allocation of water for irrigation purposes in Nellore district. Somireddy released water from Kandaleru South Canal Lift Irrigation Scheme to the local tank at Palicherlapadu village in Venkatachal mandal on Sunday.

The Minister unveiled the pylon in the village. Speaking to the mediapersons, he said that the State government has been providing 140 tmcft water from Pothireddypadu to Nellore and Rayalaseema districts.

He pointed out that 40 tmcft of water has been stored in the Opposition leader’s district, Kadapa, for the first time during this agriculture season. He also said that 23 tanks in Nellore district were filled with water for irrigation as against 33 tanks. Even tanks in upland areas such as Podalakur were also filled with water released from Kandaleru reservoir, he said.

“Cost of land value per acre had increased to Rs 10 lakh from Rs 4 lakh when we started releasing water from lift irrigation scheme to the tanks in Podalakur mandal, Palicherlapadu in Venkatachal mandal and also in Yeturu villages,” said the Agriculture Minister. 

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has been consistently giving top priority for irrigation sector considering the plight of the farmers, he added. 
The State government has been providing water for 1.75 lakh acres in Sarvepalli, Gudur, Sullurpet, Venkatagiri in Nellore and Satyavedu and Srikalahasti constituencies of Chittoor district from Kandaleru reservoir, said the Minister. 

He explained that they would allocate additional water from Somasila reservoir to Kandaleru for irrigation purposes. Further, the Minister participated in ST cell district meeting at NTR Bhavan. The Minister said that they had brought ITDA to Nellore during their regime earlier.

The State government has been implementing ‘Giri Putrika’ scheme to eradicate child marriage practice among STs, he added. Educated people in tribal groups have to come forward for quick resolution of their issues, Somireddy said. MLC B Ravichandra, TDP Sarvepalli coordinator Somireddy Rajagopal Reddy and others were present.