Praja Sankalpa Yatra Diary Day 102: YSRCP Takes SCS Fight To Delhi 

Talluru, Prakasam district: A group of farmers met me at the Sivaramapuram camp office. They complained—“Anna, earlier we used to get water from Nagarjuna Sagar and we depended on the cultivation of rice. With our fields running dry for the past four years and with chronic water scarcity, we have been left with no alternative, but to sow the ‘kandi’ crop. The harvested crop fetches us Rs.5,450, a steep decline from around Rs.10,000 which we used to get earlier. The tragedy is that even what little we harvest does not get sold in the market yard because the buyers refuse to purchase more than two quintals. Middlemen, who are actually TDP followers, then step in. We are forced to sell the remaining part of the harvest at Rs.4,000 to these middlemen. Sir, this has been the situation for four years,” they lamented. They had to struggle for survival in the sizzling sun without water for their fields and without minimum support price for their crops. On top of everything, the crop they had harvested—the effort of an entire season—does not get sold! To loot the farmer in this manner using middlemen, is rank injustice of the worst kind! How can the government encourage such practices!

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Yerrasani Madhuri, a young widow, met me at Sivaramapuram and narrated her heart-rending tale to me. Married at fifteen, she lost her husband after a year. And that’s when her troubles began. Her in-laws subjected her to torture demanding dowry. She has a small daughter to support and with great difficulty managed to pursue education. She secured good marks in tenth as well as intermediate.

She said that she was pursuing the TTC course hoping to become a teacher. Holding her daughter in her arms, she said—“when our party comes to power please see that I get a job”. I congratulated young Madhuri who faced many impediments, trials and tribulations, in order to aspire for a higher goal. I prayed to God to bless her with a bright future, and to give me the strength to be of help to all such aspiring women. With this conviction, I move on.

I was deeply moved by the fierce spirit demonstrated by the large army of YSRCP supporters who are prepared to take the Special Category Status battle to Delhi. My heart swelled with pride on seeing them ready to be flagged off by me. These spirited soldiers of the YSRCP are sounding a war cry which will resonate in the corridors of power of Delhi. Their voice lends expression to the sentiments of six crore citizens of Andhra Pradesh.

The underlying objective of this mission is to point out to the entire nation, the injustice done to Andhra Pradesh, the hasty, arbitrary and irregular manner in which the state had been divided, Chandrababu Naidu’s betrayal and deception, and the necessity to grant special category status to the state of Andhra Pradesh. This demand should be heard all over the country. Special category status is the lifeline of the Telugu people. It is like the life breath which would stir Andhra Pradesh into action and place it on the path of accelerated progress.

The YSRCP will continue to wage a relentless struggle till every assurance in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act is fulfilled.

I can claim with justifiable pride that the YSRCP is the only party which has been consistently demanding Special Category Status to the state with honesty and sincerity of spirit from the time that Andhra Pradesh had been divided. All our partymen continue to be driven by a single objective —be they MPs, MLAs, MLCs, coordinators, important leaders or workers—to secure SCS for the state.

“Our struggle for SCS will continue as it has all along, with sincerity and commitment, in a way that nobody can ever fault us for not having been honest in our approach. We will continue to voice the aspirations of crores of Andhra citizens. Every single moment of our waking hours is dedicated to the struggle of getting special category status accorded to Andhra Pradesh.” With these words of encouragement, I flagged off YSRCP workers and supporters going to Delhi.

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Along every step of the Padayatra, I reiterated the need for SCS to our state and tried to create an awareness among the people and sought to consolidate this spirited movement. In every public meeting I spoke about the benefits of S CS to AP and told them that special category status is our right. I cautioned the rulers from every rally and every point of interaction not to deceive the masses with talk of a package. In spite of all the difficulties placed in my path, all the plotting and scheming indulged in by Chandrababu Naidu, I shall continue to fight for SCS. We are ready for any sacrifice in order to achieve this objective.

With God’s grace and people’s support, we will be successful in attaining our goal. This is my conviction and this is what I told my partymen and supporters. If special category status is not granted to Andhra Pradesh by the time the budget session of Parliament concludes, living up to the sentiments of the people of Andhra Pradesh, and in a way that YSRCP would do the state proud, our MPs will resign, I said.

I have a question for the chief minister—at a time when the entire state is agitating for special category status is it not your duty to back the struggle? Instead, by changing your stance frequently, and by creating confusion, by using all your power and authority to water down the struggle for SCS, instead of withdrawing your ministers from the union Cabinet immediately, to say that their resignations would be the last option, is this not betrayal of the cause?