‘Separate Andhra’ movement gaining ground?

yderabad, Dec 5: Even as the ongoing agitation for  separate Telangana state turns violent, students from the North Coastal district of Srikakulam have organized a rally in support of a united Andhra Pradesh.According to sources, students have organized rallies with banners calling for an undivided State and appealing to the government not to buckle under pressure of political forces to divide the state.Meanwhile, senior Praja Rajyam party leader Harirama Jogaiah has quit the party on Saturday to launch a “Jai Andhra” movement. Jogaiah reportedly resigned over his party’s support to the Telangana stir and said he would focus on launching a ‘Jai Andhra’ movement,which is aimed at carving out a separate Andhra State.If all these separatist calls are heeded by the powers that be,the State would be divided into three parts-- Telangana, Andhra and Rayalseema.Jogaiah’s call for a separate Andhra state is not without support.

Even a meeting, chaired by APCOB chairman and former minister Vasantha Nageswara Rao,at Vijaywada recently expressed its solidarity with the movement for separate Andhra. The meeting expressed concern over the vandalism resorted to by the Telangana agitators in destroying the statues of Potti Sriramulu and Kasu Brahmananda Reddy.The meeting invited all MPs and MLAs from the coastal region to join the “Jai Andhra” agitation to achieve a separate Andhra.It may be recalled here that after the 1969 Telangana agitation, the people of the coastal districts launched “Jai Andhra” agitation in which leaders like late Kakani Venkataratnam, Mr Vasantha Nageswara Rao and Mr Venkaiah Naidu took a leading part.