Visakhapatnam, July 11: Leaders cutting across party lines from the Seemandhra region embarked on a bus Yatra, ostensibly to stress on the importance of the state remaining integrated.
The bus Yatra, organised by the Seemandhra Joint Action Committee, however was seen as an answer to a similar Yatra currently under way in the Telangana region of the state, this one being organised by the Telugu Desam Party leaders from the region.
The SJAC bus Yatra, flagged off from Visakhapatnam district, would also cover North Coastal Andhra districts Srikakulam and Vizianagaram. The SJAC said that the Yatra is designed to create awareness among people over the state remaining integrated and seek their support towards this purpose.
However, observers state that the bus Yatra is more or less designed to point to the Centre that the Samaikhya Andhra Pradesh movement is widespread and not just limited to leaders from Seemandhra regions, as claimed by the separate Telangana protagonists.
Besides this, the Seemandhra Joint Action Committee is also planning to launch a bus Yatra in Telangana districts, aimed to urge the leaders from the region not to insist on carving out Telangana state from Andhra Pradesh.
The SJAC constituents maintain that some vested elements are using the Telangana agitation to protect their interests and are hence provoking people in the region.
The SJAC has already stated that its members would picket houses of elected representative to make their stand clear and oppose the division of state, besides paralysing the administration by staging dharnas and rallies like Telangana agitators and organise the agitation in a peaceful manner.
However, no one in the SJAC is willing to explain why the bus Yatra will traverse through the region to educate the leaders when this can be done in meetings or conferences.
On board the bus are educationists and intelligentsia from various fields, besides others. The delegation has been carefully chosen, consisting of those who vehemently oppose the bifurcation of the state.(
–Agencies