Even as the Andhra Pradesh government submitted an affidavit to the High Court on the repeal of the ‘three capital Act’ on Friday, the farmers from Amaravati continued their ‘maha padayatra’, demanding that Amaravati be retained as the sole capital of the State.
“The State government must put an end to the uncertainty over the issue as the development had taken a backseat in the wake of its decision of setting up three capitals, belying the hopes of unemployed youth,” Amaravati Parirakshana Samiti co-convenor G. Tirupati Rao said on the 25th day of the march on Friday.
Former Union Minister and TDP leader Panabaka Lakshmi, Jana Sena Party Political Affairs Committee chairman Nadandla Manohar, Communist Party of India (Marxist) State secretary P. Madhu and Bharatiya Janata Party MLC Vakati Narayana Reddy were among those who walked for some distance as the ‘maha padaytra’ by a group of 157 farmers resumed from North Rajupalem village after a day’s break.
“Amaravati was decided as the State capital only after a broad consensus among all parties, including the YSR Congress Party,” Ms. Lakshmi said while expressing solidarity with the farmers who have so far covered a distance of over 360 km during their ‘maha padayatra’. The YSRCP government had no mandate to trifurcate the capital now, she observed.
Without standing on prestige, the YSRCP government should retain Amaravati as the sole capital, Mr. Manohar said.
Thousands of activists of the opposition parties walked in tandem with the farmers who concluded their march for the day at Nellore, after covering a distance of 16 km. Villagers en route showered flower petals on them. A group of people in Kovur presented new clothes to the farmers after lighting oil lamps en masse at the Siva temple for the success of the march.
