Advantages of Separation : Seemandhra will have a better capital

AICC General Secretary in-charge of Andhra Pradesh Digvijay Singh on Friday promised the Seemandhra leaders that the new capital for the residuary State of Seemandhra, following the creation of Telangana, would be much more beautiful than Hyderabad.

Digvijay Singh, who managed to convince the Union Ministers belonging to Seemandhra region to drop the plan for resignations, has an unenviable task. While initially it was the Telangana leaders, who had to be placated, now he is seeking to pacify the Seemandhra leaders by putting them on a constructive programme of building a new State all over again. Talking to media persons, Digvijay Singh said that the Centre was trying to convince the Seemandhra leaders that all their issues would be addressed. Requesting them to accept the decision taken by the Congress leadership, he urged upon them to maintain peace and calm.

Explaining the benefits of new State, he said, “The Polavaram Project has already been declared a National Project. It has huge natural resources, surplus power generation, a long coastline and efforts could be made to make a new Capital, which would be better than Hyderabad.”

While Hyderabad was built 400 years ago, the new Seemandhra capital would have a modern design. Digvijay Singh has given the example of Chandigarh, which serves as the joint capital for Punjab and Haryana, and that of Gandhinagar, which is the capital of Gujarat that was carved out of the Mumbai Presidency.

Primarily, Digvijay Singh is seeking to address the concerns expressed by TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu that to build a city like Hyderabad, it would require Rs 4 lakh crore. Other TDP leaders have also aired apprehensions over building a new capital. He is repeatedly reassuring the Seemandhra leaders that focus should now be on the constructive agenda, which challenging and daunting.

Venkat Parsa