Leaders and intellectuals from all four districts of Rayalaseema demanded announcement of a developmental package for the region which is the principal casualty of the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh now and Madras then.
They have deciced to observe November 16 as betrayal day. It was on this day in 1937 that Coastal Andhra leaders agreed to implement a developmental package to seek the support of Rayalaseema leaders for separate Andhra state to be carved out of Madras state. This understanding is called Sri Bagh pact after the venue, Sri Bagh” of the meeting in Madras.
The leaders said not a single attempt had been made to implement the Sri Bagh pact.
The leaders who met at a school in Tirupati gave a call for an agitation to force the state and central governments to spell out its programs for the development of the region in changed scenario.
The meeting, organized under aegis of Rayalaseema Samalochana, headed by noted writer Bhumana Subramanyam Reddy, took strong objection to the statement of Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao that Rayalaseem would not get a single drop of water from River Krishna. Writer Arun called for observation of betrayal day in the region on November 16.
“Protest demonstrations will be held across the region against the non-implementation of the Sri Bagh pact,” Arun said.The meeting also demanded the establishment of a steel plant in Kadapa disrict in the public sector. Trade union leader Chandrasekhar Reddy demanded that Krisna Water Board be set up in Rayalasema only. Rayalaseema Joint Action Committee secretary Bojja Dasaratharami Reddy said the situation in region was worse than what it was like in 1953. In the meeting, Bhuman released a book on socio-political background of first generation short stories from the region written Dr Appireddy Haranatha Reddy. leading personalities of region Kamani Venugopal Reddy, Kolu Konda Reddy (Koilakuntla), Lekkala Venkata Reddy (Mydukuru), Professor Krishna Mohan, Adimoolam Sekhar, Balasundaram (Kurnool) etc participated in the meeting.
The gathering adopted a resolution urging people to intensify the agitation for the justice to the region which is under-irrigated and under-industrialized.
