Opposition, BJP spar over (f)utility of newly-created railway zone

Visakhapatnam: All roads leading to the venue of the public meeting to be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Friday could turn virtually into a ‘war zone’, with the newly-created separate railway zone for Visakhapatnam becoming a bone of contention between the Pratyeka Hoda Sadhana Samithi and the Telugu Desam Party on the one hand, and the Bharatiya Janata Party on the other.

The BJP wants to cash in on the announcement regarding carving a separate railway zone for Visakhapatnam and is working to use it as the party’s trump card to negate long-held claims of the opposition parties that the Centre has neglected AP post-bifurcation. Towards this end, it is mobilising many people, particularly those from the north coastal region.

However, the opposition parties maintain that the new railway zone will bring none of the benefits that a freshly railway zone would confer on the state and that the Centre has “just changed the nomenclature”. Even railway employees, they say, are unhappy over the way the zone has been created. They feel that even for jobs they will now have to look towards Odisha.

The BJP, however, is smug that this is a good opportunity for the party to lash out at the state government and assert that the Centre is committed to implementing the AP State Re-Organisation Act in toto, contrary to the propaganda by TDP and other parties. The BJP leaders say that the Prime Minister, in his speech, would refer to the Pulwama incident, retaliation by Pakistan, and how India has effectively handled the situation.

However, the opposition parties and social organisations have decided to register a strong protest against the ‘injustice’ meted out to the State once again. They will also protest against non-sanctioning of Special Category Status, for which several hoardings have come up in black colour.

These hoardings have been put up along the route through which the Prime Minister would be travelling to reach the railway exhibition grounds -- the venue of the public meeting.

The TDP and other parties have made revenue loss a strong point of the campaign against the creation of the railway zone. They want to drive home the point that the Centre is bent upon creating problems for the state as the new railway zone would deprive the state of its revenue. That is, the revenue that should have accrued to the state will now go to Raigad, Odisha.

The Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India-Marxist announced that they would stage dharna against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit. The Left parties said that their state leaders P Madhu (CPM) and K Ramakrishna (CPI) would lead a protest rally on Friday in the city.

The TDP has already launched a massive dharna at various important locations, including Gandhi statue at GVMC, Maddilapalem and Gajuwaka. Senior leaders of the party and MLAs are participating in the dharna.

According to TDP Urban wing president and MLA Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar, the dharna and protests would be intensified on Friday. People’s organisations too have joined the protests.