Senior TDP leader from Telangana, Motkupally Narasimhulu, staunch critic of Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao sounded war bugle against the proposal of the government to transfer the Yadagiri Gutta to the proposed Siddipet district.

Now in Nalgonda district, Yadagiri Gutta, which is being developed on the lines of Tirupati, will transform the profile of Siddipet new district if annexed to it. Siddipet, is the pocket borough of KCR family. Siddipet Assembly segment was once represented by TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao. After Rao switched to National politics, the constituency was gifted to his nephew T Harish Rao, who is now irrigation minister. Harish Rao is pushing for Siddipet district and wants Yadagiri Gutta to become part of the new district. The TRS leadership doesn’t want the Telangana’s most important pilgrim centre to remain in Nalgonda district, which is a fortress for Congress party.

The district has too many stalwarts from Congress such as Jana Reddy, PCC president Uttam Kumar Reddy, Komati Reddy brothers, Palvai Goverdhan Reddy, Gutha Sukhender Reddy etc. The temple, which is going to be state’s richest pilgrim centre, TRS thinks, should be free from the influence of Congress leaders. Besides, Yadagiri Gutta is being developed under the guidance of Chinna Jeeyar Swamy, who has been adopted as the community guru of Velama caste. All these feature warrant shifting of Gutta to Siddipet which would be almost the family district of ruling family of Telangana.

So, Harish Rao, as a key minister in KCR’s cabinet, has prepared the plan to carve out the new Siddipet district carefully to include Yadagiri Gutta . He has been assuring the people that Siddipet would be first new district of Telangana and Yadagiri Gutta would be part of it. The temple town is being developed with an outlay of Rs 100 crore and the design has also been approved by the state government. Shifting Yadagrigi Gutta would diminish the influence of Motkupalli Narasimhulu, who hails from the area. He announced a program of action against the move to shift Yadagrigi Gutta to proposed Siddipet district. His argument is that Gutta itself should be made into a separate temple district and it would impart a special status to the district. He announced that he would be sitting on fast on December 1 demanding district status to Yadagiri Gutta. Similarly, he said on November 26, a Alair bandh had been called with the support from all political parties in the district. On 27, he will lead a padayatra from Alair town to Yadagiri Gutta opposing Yadagiri Gutta’s transfer to Siddipet district and demanding carving out of new Yadagiri Gutta.

Surprisingly Congress has been silent on the proposed shifting of Gutta to Siddipet.