Farmers from the capital region of Amaravati launched a 24-hour hunger strike at Velagapudi, near here, on Thursday, coinciding with the 800 days of their agitation against the State government’s decision to shift the capital to Visakhapatnam.
The farmers, who included women, opposed the sale of lands in Amaravati. The farmers said they had parted with fertile lands for establishment of the capital for the new State post bifurcation.
“The government now plans to monetise the lands and channel the funds for welfare schemes. We will not accept any such move. The lands in Amaravati should be used for the development of the capital alone,” they asserted.
Several political parties, which included the TDP, the CPI(M), the CPI, the Congress, the Jana Sena Party, and the BJP, extended their support to the farmers’ hunger strike.
Leaders of the Opposition and the Joint Action Committee (JAC) garlanded the portraits of B.R. Ambedkar, Babu Jagjivan Ram, and Potti Sriramulu before launching the protest.
TDP Polit Bureau member K. Srinivasulu and its Guntur parliamentary constituency in-charge T. Sravan Kumar took part in the protest.
CPI(M) leaders P. Madhu and Ch. Babu Rao, CPI State assistant secretary M. Nageswara Rao, BJP leaders P. Nagabhushanam and Lanka Dinakar, and Congress leader S. Padmasri were among others who addressed the gathering.
Claiming that the people were against shifting the capital, Mr. Madhu said they were demanding the government to announce Amaravati as the lone capital of the State. The issue would take a serious turn in the days to come, he said.
Recalling that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone for Amaravati, Mr. Nagabhushanam said the Prime Minister knew how to take the issue to its logical conclusion.
The Central government wanted to establish institutions in the Amaravati region, but the State government was not creating necessary infrastructure such as roads, he alleged.
