Penukonda likely to emerge as district headqurarters in rejig

Penukonda (Anantapur): Roads and Buildings Minister and Penukonda MLA M Sankara Narayana is silently working behind the scenes to neutralise the importance of Hindupur Assembly constituency and project Penukonda as the right choice for making it as the second district headquarters, in the context of Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy constituting a committee to look into the bifurcation of districts, headed by the state chief secretary. Under the new government policy, every Parliamentary constituency will be bifurcated into a district. The district has two Parliamentary constituencies, one Hindupur and the other Anantapur.

Hindupur has a long history of being loyal to the family members of N T Rama Rao, who represented the constituency right from the birth of TDP and until his death. Nandamuri Bala Krishna had twice represented the Assembly constituency. Although the people had has been loyal to NTR family and TDP, the people are unhappy with the way, they were taken for granted and the constituency does not have a semblance of development in spite of high profile TDP leaders representing the constituency. The YSRCP leaders strategy is to neutralise the importance of the town and prop up the Penukonda town as a prospective modern industrial town.

Even Puttaparthy MLA Sridhar wanted the Puttaparthi town to emerge as the headquarters of the new district in the making. According to sources close to the minister Sankara Narayana, Penukonda is being considered as the headquarters of the new district. The minister it appears has already convinced the Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and that the state chief secretary might zeroed in on Penukonda as the headquarters of to be carved district. According to indications, the new districts will be announced in early 2021. Already, the minister succeeded in hijacking the new medical college from Hindupur to Penukonda. According to sources in the government and in YSRCP political circles, the Parliamentary constituency is likely to be shifted from Hindupur to Penukonda. Minister Sankara Narayana is pulling all strings to achieve his three objectives, medical college, district headquarters and Parliamentary constituency should be under the domain of Penukonda. Historically Penukonda was the second capital of Sri Krishna Devaraya. Now, with Penukonda emerging as an important industrial hub, all eyes are on Penukonda as it is going to be a planned and decent town of tomorrow. It is also being considered as a smart city by the Central government. South Korea's Kia Motors has set the tone for industrialisation of the region with its presence and subsequently hundreds of ancillary industries making a beeline. In another 2-3 years, Penukonda is likely to emerge as a modern town surpassing Anantapur city.

Hindupur, the ancient town has lost its sheen as there is absolutely no mark of development and political observers see a sinister design to downplay the importance of the town due to people's preference for the yellow party in every election. Adding to the woes of people is the disinterest of local MLA Bala Krishna on the constituency. Hindupur is now feeling orphaned with the defeat of the TDP in elections and Bala Krishna losing interest to even pay a visit or listen to their problems. The TDP lost a great opportunity to develop it as an industrial city due to its proximity to Benguluru International Airport in spite of being in power for more than 20 years.