Konathala Ramakrishna, former minister from Visakhapatnam, today demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi a Rs 15,000 crore package to Uttarandhra along with special status to Andhra Pradesh.
Writing four-page letter to the PM, the former Congress leaders said the districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhaptnam need immediate attention from central government in order get many issues resolved mainly related to power supply, irrigation, tribal development, employment etc.
The assurances given to Utarahdhra in the AP Reorganization Act,2014 Konathala said were not adequate to deal with gigantic task of development of the backward region.
It is surprising that Ramakrishna chose to write a letter to PM on the backwardness of the region 23 months after the bifurcation was done.
“The issues (of the region) ought to be seen, understood and addressed with a humanitarian standpoint so as to achieve the conviction that the suffering of one crore people is addressed conclusively. This region has 340 km long of coastline and has good rainfall averaging 1,050 mm annually. Still, the region suffers from shortage of drinking water, irrigation and an unending script of farmers’ suicides and migration of people for livelihood,” he said in the letter and demanded the package.
Why Konatala chose to raise the bogey of regional development now. Konathala, who was a minister in YSR cabinet, lost election in 2009. following the death of YSR, for sometime he sailed with Jaganmohan Reddy. He differed with Jagan when the latter admitted Dadi Virabhadra Rao, TDP leader and his rival in district politics, into YSRC and quit.
Later, he toyed with idea of joining the TDP. He got clearance from TDP leadership as well. However, reports came from his camp that the former minister was not interested to join any political party for the time being.
It is learnt that he backed out after the reports that there was no plan to increase the number of Assembly seats from 175 to 225 in AP, which disappointed him. The increase ,he thought, would help people like him get tickets in 2019. But the centre’s clarification dashed his hopes. So, he has come around to the conclusion that instead of embracing an uncertain future in TDP, it would be better to work on the region’s cause and be in limelight.
So, he began his fight for justice to Uttarandhra by writing a letter to Prime Minister.
He concluded the letter with a ‘firm trust’ that the PM would ‘ understand the day-to-day concerns and struggles of the people in this backward region of “Uttarandhra” and would not tarry to announce the Special Financial Package”.
