A round-table conference convened by the Communist Party of India on Sunday vowed to step up stir for special category State status for Andhra Pradesh and a special package for Prakasam District coinciding with the ongoing Parliament session.
The district formed by merging the most backward part of Kurnool district in Rayalseema with parts of Guntur and Nellore districts, continued to lag behind other districts and deserves a special package on the lines of the one sanctioned for seven backward districts, the meeting said in a resolution.
It decided to organise different forms of protests from August 1 to 9, coinciding with the ongoing Monsoon session of Parliament to exert pressure on the Centre to concede the twin demands, CPI State Secretariat member Ravula Venkaiah said after the meeting.
Presiding over the meeting, Forum for Good Governance General Secretary Shamseer Ahamad said a state-wide bandh would be organised on August 11 if there is no positive response to the just demands of Andhra Pradesh struggling to cope with bifurcation blues.
When then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced Special category state status for five years at the time of bifurcation, senior BJP Parliamentarian M.Venkaiah Naidu had then pressed for providing the status for 10 years instead of five years, CPI(M) leader P.Hanumantha Rao said, adding that it was unfortunate that the BJP was trying to wriggle out now by saying that other states objected to the grant of the status to Andhra Pradesh.
Andhra Pradesh Union of Working Journalist(APUWJ) State General Secretary I.V.Subba Rao said that the media would play a pivotal role in moulding public opinion and gearing up all sections for a big struggle for a just cause.
All India Kisan Sabha(AIKS) District President V.Hanuma Reddy said the Centre should speed up implementation of Polavaram project across the river Godavari to overcome the water woes of the lower riparian state.
