Amaravati, (Samajweekly) After a day’s gap, farmers and women from Amaravati on Tuesday resumed their ‘Mahapadyatra’ to demand that the city be retained as the only state capital of Andhra Pradesh.
Titled ‘court to temple’, the walkathon from Amaravati to Tirupati entered its ninth day on Tuesday. Raising slogans of ‘Jai Amaravati’, the protesters resumed the walk from Inkollu town in Prakasam district.
The organisers said the participants will cover a distance of 10.5 km during the day to reach Duddukuru village, where they will have a night halt.
Farmers from Inkollu and surrounding villages joined the foot march as a show of solidarity.
They demanded that the state government drop its plans for trifurcation of the capital.
The mega walkathon began from Thulluru on November 1 and is scheduled to conclude at Tirupati on December 17.
The Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi and Amaravati Joint Action Committee (JAC) are organising the foot march. The participants will be covering 10-15 km every day.
The walkathon will continue for the next 45 days to reach Sri Venkateswara temple at Tirumala, passing through 70 major villages in Guntur, Prakasam, Nellore, and Chittoor districts.
After passing through Guntur district, the foot march entered Prakasam district last week. Local leaders of the opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) also participated in the march.
Barring the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), all political parties are extending support to the ‘Mahapadyatra’. The YSRCP has, however, described the foot march as a ploy by TDP president and Leader of Opposition N Chandrababu Naidu.
Amaravati farmers had been protesting for 660 days against the state government’s plans for trifurcation of the state capital. With ‘Mahapadyatra’, their protest entered a new phase.
After coming to power in 2019, the YSR Congress Party government led by YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has decided to shift the administrative capital to Visakhapatnam and the judicial capital to Kurnool while retaining Amaravati as only the legislative capital.
