Even as the Central Government is yet to make the first official step towards the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh and the State continues to be completely paralysed due to the protests and Government employees’ strike against the division, political parties have already started positioning themselves for the future electoral battle in the Rayalaseema and Andhra regions.
While Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu, who is trying to ride the two boats of Telangana State and united Andhra Pradesh at the same time launched his “Telugujaati Aatma Gauravam” (self respect of Telugu people” Yatra at Pondugula in Guntur district on Sunday, his bitter rival YSR Congress Party will be launching a counter yatra from Monday.
Sharmila, sister of YSRCP’s jailed president YS Jaganmohan Reddy, will be embarking upon the bus tour of Seema-Andhra regions at Idupulapaya in Kadapa district on Monday after paying tributes at her father former Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s grave. As ruling Congress, the main proponent of Telangana State, has been completely sidelined in the other two regions and was facing the wrath of the people there for proposing the bifurcation of the State, the remaining two major parties TDP and YSRCP were the main contenders for the people’s support.
The YSRCP was aggressively targeting Naidu as he had written a letter to the Centre supporting the formation of Telangana State to curry favour with the people of that region. The YSRCP on the other hand has decided to completely forego Telangana region in favour of Seema-Andhra. launching his Bus Yatra, which is scheduled to cover most parts of the two regions, Naidu held the Congress-led Central Government for the present mess in the State. “For the sake of votes and seats Congress was making the brothers fight each other,” he alleged.
Naidu who visited NTR Samadhi in Hyderabad before leaving for Guntur said that Congress was taking arbitrary decisions. “lakhs of people have come out on the roads. It is for the Centre to talk to them and find an amicable solution. Otherwise they should resign”, he said without elaborating what solution he had in mind.
In the context of the demands of some leaders of Seema-Andhra regions that Hyderabad city should be a joint capital of both the States, Naidu tried to take credit for all the development and progress of Hyderabad. “It was the TDP which put Hyderabad on the world map. It created wealth and employment there. But today the situation is so bad that people were losing employment in the city,” he said.
Targeting Congress president Sonia Gandhi Naidu alleged that her family was looting the country and pitting people of the State against each other following the British policy of “Divide and Rule”, he said. In a counter to Naidu’s tour, Sharmila of the YSRCP will start her “Samaikhya Shankharavam” (Integrated state call) Yatra from Monday. This is the second time that the young lady will confront Naidu in the political arena. Earlier she had undertaken nearly 3,000-km long walkathon across the State in response to Naidu’s yatra earlier this year.
YSRCP honorary president Vijayalakshmi, in an open letter to the people on the eve of Sharmila’s tour, lashed out at TDP and Naidu and held him responsible for the present situation. She said that if Naidu had not written the letter to center supporting Telangana, Congress would not have taken the decision to bifurcate the State.
“The Congress was trying to disintegrate the State for the sake of votes and seats and Naidu was also following the same policy. If he fails to stop this injustice, history will judge him unkindly”, she said. Cong TDP, CPI(M) and the BJP-TRS are in favour of dividing the State and all other parties were against it, she added.
Sharmila was going on the tour at a time when her brother Jagan had undertaken a fast unto death in Chanchalguda jail last week. As his condition deteriorated, he was first taken to Osmania Hospital and then to the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences where doctors force fed him on Saturday to end his fast.