Rayalaseema people raise statehood demand

While the proposal to carve out a Telangana state has been put on the backburner, another demand for separate state for Rayalaseema people have come up.

A new outfit called Rayalaseema Parirakshana Samithi (RPS) announced an action plan to achieve the goal of creating a new state for Rayalaseema people which “will have nothing to do with either Coastal Andhra or the Telangana.”

RPS president Byreddy Rajashekar Reddy, a senior Telugu Desam Party leader, urged the Centre to keep Andhra Pradesh united or, if it decides to divide the state, create a separate Rayalaseema state, too.

Rayalaseema leaders met here and established a Rayalaseema Joint Action Committee (JAC) on the lines of the Telangana-JAC to chalk out an action plan. Byreddy said gross injustice has been meted out to the Rayalaseema region and took on the popular media for portraying the people of the region as  “factionists.”

“We have been taken for a ride by the political leaders all these years. State and Central governments must take steps to complete all the pending projects and provide irrigation water,” Byreddy said. The RPS urged the state government to develop infrastructure in Rayalaseema and create new districts for the development of the region. “The government must establish special Rayalaseema Army Regiment,” it said.