Leaders call for formation of separate 'Andhra state'

Vijayawada, Dec 25 (UNI) Cutting across party lines, several political leaders today said the development of Coastal Andhra Pradesh could be achieved only through formation of a separate 'Andhra state' comprising nine coastal districts from Srikakulam to Nellore.

Paying tributes to former minister and Congress leader Kakani Venkata Ratnam on his 34th death anniversary here, the Congress leaders blamed the previous governments for neglecting the coastal region.

Congress MP K Sambasiva Rao said there was a need to constitute the Second State Reorganisation Commission (SRC) to discuss the division of the states.

Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) official spokesman P Venkata Rao, however, said the decision on formation of separate state was left to AICC president Sonia Gandhi.

Former Minister and veteran freedom fighter Ch P V V Murthy Raju, former Rajya Sabha members Y Shivaji and Y Lakshmi Prasad, who were present on the occasion, alleged that the earlier government had failed to implement any developmental schemes in the coastal regions.

They said the Telugu Association of North America (TANA), which met today promised their support and offered to pump huge investments in the coastal regions, if a separate 'Andhra state' was formed.

Meanwhile, certain intellectuals from the coastal Andhra region, who formed 'Andhra Rashtra Samithi' (ARS), demanded that the government form a separate Andhra state comprising nine coastal districts.

They urged the Centre not to take any hasty decision on formation of separate Telangana till the ongoing irrigation projects were completed.

UNI MVB/CS VD RAI1950