KURNOOL: The demand for shifting the capital city and AP High court from Amaravati to Kurnool has been gathering momentum with protest marches and hunger strikes on the rise. Kurnool Bar Association which had been in the forefront of securing establishment of the AP High Court at Kurnool has passed a resolution in the general body meeting calling for abstention of court work till September-end. The Court work in the district came to a halt on Friday as all the lawyers had abstained.
Naga Lakshmi, Kurnool Bar Association former president, who carried out the agitation for 90 days said they were successful in getting a High Court Bench to Kurnool as former chief minister N. Chadrababu Naidu had announced it on the floor of the House. She said the agitation under her leadership was terminated after Rajya Sabha MP T.G. Venkatesh offered her a glass of juice to call off the fast as the chief minister had announced a High Court Bench in the Assembly.
SC/ST Advocates Association State president Y. Jayaraj said Kurnool had been subjected to injustice ever since Andhra Pradesh was created and the Sri Bagh Pact which envisages adequate representation to Rayalaseema was given a raw deal. The pact provides for sharing of the capital city and high court between Rayalaseema region and Coastal Andhra Pradesh. If the Capital was operated from Rayalaseema, then the High Court would be set up in Coastal districts, he said. But after bifurcation, putting both Capital city and High Court at Amaravati was a blatant act of regional disparity, he said.
Rayalaseema University Students Union along with youth leaders belonging to different political parties had ambushed the house of Togur Arthur, Nandikotkur MLA and enlisted his support for shifting of the capital to Kurnool. Sreeramulu, the president of Rayalaseema students union, said they had approached TD, YSRC, BJP and Congress leaders to support their cause.
A YSRC leader said that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was keen on correcting the historic wrongs done to the Rayalaseema region and hoped that he would do justice to the cause of Kurnool people.
