Vijayamma holds dharna

• Sonia wants to divide AP only to downsize Jagan
• Key issues like water not taken into consideration
• TDP chief Naidu also supported division of State
• As Seemandhra is crying foul, he is keeping mum

Venkat Parsa

New Delhi: YSRCP leader Y S Vijayamma on Wednesday sat on fast at Jantar Mantar in the capital, demanding that Andhra Pradesh be kept united. She targeted Congress president Sonia Gandhi for her ‘selfish’ decision on the creation of Telangana, which she alleged was aimed at limiting the influence of YSRCP supremo Jaganmohan Reddy to only one region.

Vijayamma’s hunger strike came after she met President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, besides top political leaders on Tuesday to represent to them that the Congress decision on bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh and creation of Telangana was for its own selfish political interests. This decision was not in the interests of the people of the state, she said.

Addressing the gathering at the venue, Vijayamma also hit out at TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu. When gross injustice was being meted out to Seemandhra region, Naidu was not even opening his mouth, she said. She accused him of giving a letter of unconditional support for the creation of Telangana.

Vijayamma said each time it was Seemandhra region that was the worst affected. When Andhra state was carved out of Madras Presidency, then areas like Bellary and Koraput were lost. Now, the Seemandhra region was set to lose areas like Bhadrachalam and Munagala to Telangana. Seemandhra region had always been the loser, she said. Senior YSRCP leaders like Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy, Konathala Ramakrishna, M V Mysoora Reddy, Shobha Nagi Reddy and Sucharita were among the several leaders present on the occasion.

In case the state is divided, she wants to know what will happen to the investments of the people from Andhra region. “There are major PSU industries, private sector industries, ancillary units and global giants have started their units in Hyderabad. Will it be possible to move all these industries to Andhra region? How much time and money will be required to recreate the same conditions in the Andhra region,” she asked.

Similarly, Vijayamma raised the issue of irrigation projects and water-sharing. Even now, about 62 per cent of the state’s work force is engaged in agriculture, for which water is very critical. Four major irrigation projects were constructed on the Krishna, Godavari and Penna rivers in the 1850s by the then British Government. After Independence, the Nagarjunasagar, Srisailam and Jurala projects were implemented in Andhra Pradesh with defined water allotments to both Andhra and Telangana regions.

The water releases had been going on smoothly for the past several decades. However, given the experience of upper riparian states not releasing the allotted water to tail-end stales like Andhra Pradesh in the years of rainfall deficit despite in the face of directions from Supreme Court, inter-state water tribunals and the Central Government, these projects are likely to face even greater problems if a new state is created. Without addressing these issues, how would the Congress CWC hope that Polavaram Project would get enough water, she questioned.