'Rayalaseema interests should be protected'

Kurnool: Placing the people of Rayalaseema people at the altar of Telangana issue would not be tolerated, Byreddy Rajasekhar Reddy, president of Rayalaseema Parirakshana Samithi, warned here on Wednesday. Talking to newsmen at his residence here, Byreddy said that Rayalaseema has been noted for many a struggle.

He decried the efforts of the leadership to bifurcate Rayalaseema into two and said that the bifurcation of Rayalseema in the name of Rayala Telangana would not be accepted. He regretted the deafening silence of eight MPs and 52 MLAs of Rayalaseema for not raising their voice against the move to bifurcate the Rayalaseema. Byreddy announced that he would undertake a hunger strike for 52 hours in Hyderabad in protest against the proposal of Rayala Telangana.

Elaborating on the efforts of bifurcation of Rayalaseema, Byreddy said that the leadership at Delhi was planning to include Kurnool and Anantapuram in the Rayala Telangana and Kadapa and Chittoor would be included in Seemandhra. "This conspiracy would not be tolerated," he warned. He recalled that Dr Neelam Sanjiva Reddy had allowed ceding of Bellary due to political reasons and some politicians with business interests in Hyderabad have been trying to divide Rayalaseema.

A massive agitation would be launched to dissuade the efforts to divide Rayalaseema, he said. Elaborating on why he was against the proposal, Byreddy said that people of two districts in Telangana and people of two districts in Andhra would be treated as untouchables. The 52-hour hunger strike was only a beginning and they would take the agitation to Delhi also, Byreddy Rajasekhara Reddy said.