Only 70 farmers taking part in ‘padayatra’: Tammineni

Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly Speaker Tammineni Sitaram has said that in the name of farmers many benamis are taking part in the ‘Maha Padayatra’, cheating the people of North Andhra. He said that only 70 participants in the rally are Amaravati farmers and all the others are fake activists.

Addressing the media persons on Sunday, the Speaker said that the people who oppose Visakhapatnam as Executive capital are traitors of North Andhra. He said that many states that made progress in various sectors are those that espoused the cause of decentralisation. He said that only because of decentralisation states like Rajasthan, Karnataka, Kerala, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh witnessed equitable development of all regions.

Referring to the Sri Bagh Pact, the Speaker said that the agreement stressed that all regions should be developed equally.The Amaravati capital proposal clearly indicates benefit to a single community, he said and added that even the Sivarama Krishnan Committee report stated that Amaravati region was not suitable for the capital of Andhra Pradesh.

The Speaker further said that it is not a wise decision to focus on developing one region at the cost of others  despite a bitter experience after the 2014 State bifurcation. He said that it is not appropriate to look at the formation of three capitals from a political point of view.The decision of decentralisation of governance and development by Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy should be welcomed  in the interest of the future generations, Tammineni Sitaram said.