Amaravati farmers on Monday kickstarted their second edition of padayatra demanding that the State government continue Amaravati as the Capital of Andhra Pradesh, at Venkatapalem village, near here. The farmers began the padayatra after offering prayers at the Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple.
Several farmers gathered at Venkatapalem before starting their walkathon christened as “Amaravati to Arasavilli yatra”. The 60-day-long ‘Maha Padayatra’ would cover north coastal districts of the State. The journey will cover 15 km on the first day. It will reach Arasavilli in Srikakulam district on November 11.
BJP leader and former minister Kamineni Srinivas, CPI national secretary K. Narayana, and others were present.
During phase-1, the farmers took out a padayatra to Tirupati in Rayalaseema. Last year, the farmers undertook a 45-day long padayatra titled ‘Nyayasthanam (High Court) to Devasthanam (Tirumala temple)‘. Now, they have decided to tour north coastal districts to seek support from locals.
The padayatra had been launched to mark the completion of 1,000 days of protests in Amaravati. The farmers had been demanding that the State government retain Amaravati as the single capital city of the State and develop other regions with additional infrastructure.
Political parties, including TDP, Jana Sena Party, BJP, CPI and CPI(M), have extended their support to the farmers’ padayatra.
Initially, the Director General of Police (DGP ) had turned down the permission to farmers to take up yatra citing the volatile political situation in the State. However, the High Court of Andhra Pradesh, on Friday, directed the DGP to give permission to Amaravati Parirakshna Samithi (APS) for its Maha Padayatra.
