Hyderabad: The coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions erupted in fury yesterday, a day after the United Progressive Alliance coordination committee agreed to the division of Andhra Pradesh and the formation of a separate Telangana state.
The politicians in the two regions, however, appear to have reconciled to the fact as unlike Tuesday, when one MP and four state legislators had announced their resignations, no public representative quit yesterday.
Congress party leaders from the two regions held a meeting with Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy to discuss their future course of action but differences among them were visible. Some state ministers went on record saying that resignations will serve no purpose.
Ministers and legislators from Rayalaseema gave a new twist by demanding that capital of ‘Rayala Andhra’ (Andhra Pradesh) should be built in their region and they should also get due share of river waters.
Even the main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu has accepted the reality of two states. In his first reaction to the decision, he said there was nothing wrong in having two states but the Telugu-speaking people should remain united.
The former chief minister demanded that the centre build a new city at par with Hyderabad to be the capital of Andhra Pradesh.
Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), a key political force in Hyderabad, which had opposed the state’s division, said it would be active in both the states for protection of the rights of minorities.
Tension prevailed in Anantapur town of Rayalaseema as protestors, opposing the state’s division, ransacked an office of the Congress and set afire the statues of former prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.
One of the statues was demolished.
Paramilitary forces and police used force and fired teargas shells to disperse protesters who attacked government and private property and pelted stones on security personnel.
A man attempted self-immolation in Anantapur. Policemen rescued him and he was taken to hospital, where his condition was stated to be critical.
Protests rocked both the regions as the shutdown called by Samaikya Andhra Joint Action Committee (JAC) evoked near total response in all major towns.
Opposing the division of the state, students and activists of various groups took to the streets.
Road transport came to a standstill while shops, business establishments and educational institutions remained closed in the two regions, usually referred to as Seemandhra.
Effigies of Congress president Sonia Gandhi were burnt during the protests. The protestors raised slogans of ‘Jai Samaikya Andhra’ and squatted on the roads. They also demanded the resignation of public representatives, irrespective of their party affiliations.
IANS
New Delhi: Close on the heels of the UPA government’s decision to carve out Telangana from Andhra Pradesh, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh yesterday favoured restructuring of Uttar Pradesh.
Ramesh said: “If a debate on reorganisation of states is to be held, priority should be given to reorganisation of Uttar Pradesh because the current structure of the state is ungovernable.”
He said: “Purely from an administrative point of view, a state of over 200 million people, 72 districts, over 800 blocks is just not governable. It is my personal view. The state’s politics is a separate issue.”
Ramesh’s comments came hours after BSP chief and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati renewed her demand for splitting the country’s biggest state into four parts.
Citing his experience during his last week’s visit to Unnao in Uttar Pradesh which witnessed six district magistrates in 12 months, Ramesh said: “The size of Uttar Pradesh and the administrative and the political interference in the administration are destroying the state. No chief minister would know the names of 72 districts by heart.”
“Bihar has been reorganised. Madhya Pradesh has been reorganised. Reorganisation of Uttar Pradesh is long overdue,” he said.
