Seema BJP leaders in a quandary over T state

Kadapa: The Samaikyandra agitation has hit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hard in the district as it took a pro-Telangana stand in favour of state bifurcation. The BJP leaders are worried about the likely negative fallout on the party’s electoral prospects in the Seemandhra region. As the BJP took a stand favoring bifurcation, it cannot take a different stand in the Rayalaseema region and the leaders there are at a loss to know as to what strategy to adopt to garner support for the party.

Since the Samikyandhra agitation has spread to every nook and corner in the region the BJP unit here has to lend its support to the movement bypassing the party’s stand taken at the national level. As the municipal elections for the MPTC and ZPTC are round the corner, the BJP desperately wants to bag some seats. But if it takes a pro-Telangana stand, it would face disastrous consequences in this region and would be totally wiped out.

Attending an intra-party meeting at Hyderabad on Saturday, some of the Seemandhra BJP leaders lamented that they incurred huge losses when Kurnool lost the status of capital city in 1956 when Andhra Pradesh was formed. They said that if the state was divided, they would face river water disputes and the central funds would be cut down. Instead of addressing these problems first, the Congress and the UPA government announced the division of the state. The BJP leaders bemoaned the fact that the present crisis was the result of remaining silent and not making their views on the division of the state clear earlier.

They demanded that the issue of sharing of river waters should be resolved and the creation of Greater Rayalaseema by adding the districts of Nellore and Prakasam. The BJP leaders from the Rayalaseema were a bit disappointed over the lukewarm response that they got for their demands in Hyderabad. However, the party leaders assured the Seema leaders that their issues would be addressed after the completion of Narendra Modi’s visit to Hyderabad.

BJP leaders like Kishan Reddy, Shanta Reddy, Charlapalli Narasimha Reddy and leaders from the four districts of Rayalaseema region attended the intra-party meeting. They also discussed the visit of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to Hyderabad on Sunday.