Why Telangana DOES NOT want Ananthpur, Kurnool

The growing tussle surrounding the war over a separate Telangana do not seem to end and the latest controversy is with regard to the inclusion of Ananthpur and Kurnool districts, if at all a new state is carved out.

There have been a series of meetings of various Telangana activists since Thursday morning in which it has been decided that any such decision to include Kurnool and Ananthpur, which are now part of Rayalseema region, should be opposed tooth and nail.

The issue arose when Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief K Chandrasekara Rao made this statement with some of his supporters in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

Rao reportedly stated that he has information that the Union government is indeed planning on forming Telangana, but the clause would be that Kurnool and Ananthpur districts be part of it.

A meeting of Telangana activists on Thursday decided to strongly oppose any such move and they have even threatened that the agitation will become doubly fierce in case such a thing happened.

The activists feel that there is no such signal from the Union government and the same is being created at the state level.

However, according to sources, there is such a push being made to include Kurnool and Ananthpur into Telangana. There are various factors that are attached to it and going by the observations of the meeting on Thursday morning, the larger picture behind such a move does become clear.

The pro-Telangana activists feel that this is nothing but a conspiracy. They even blamed the mining mafia to be behind this move, sources said.

They feel that if Kurnool and Ananthpur become part of Telangana, then illegal mining can continue unabated and the ore can pass through Telangana without any problem.

Illegal mining is rampant in the Ananthpur district, and in case they need to transport the ore, it needs to pass through some regions of Telangana. They feel that by including Ananthpur into Telangana this activity could continue unabated.

Moreover, geographically Kurnool is adjacent to Mehboobnagar district in Telangana, and this is adjacent to Bellary in Karnataka, which is also a hub for illegal mining.

During the meeting it was also stated that at no point in time during the Telangana agitation was this aspect ever discussed and there was no chance of these two districts being part of Telangana. They say that the general voice of the people of Telangana would be to oppose any such move.

While illegal mining is one part of the problem, pro-Telangana activists say that once Kurnool and Ananthpur become part of the proposed state, a regional sentiment in the region will vanish and the state will be dominated more by the caste factor.

The activists feel that in both Kurnool and Ananthpur the Reddys are a dominant caste and this would lead to the death of a regional feeling in Telangana since they would try and polarise the area.

Moreover, they also have the money and power to do so since they have always been a politically dominant class in Andhra Pradesh. Although in the Telangana region the OBCs are numerically higher, the Reddys, according to the people of Telangana, have it in them to change the equations due to money power.

There is a large section within the Reddy community who feel that the political dynamics would change a great deal if Telangana is formed.

Their battle would be fought in Rayalseema and Andhra. However, in terms of numbers they are much lesser when compared to the Kammas and Kapus.

They also do realise that there would be a struggle for power between the Kammas and Kapus at that time. Moreover, the Kapu community has been waiting forever to have a long shot in politics in the state.

They have never had a chief minister and they have always felt that it has been the dominance of the Reddys and the Kammas who have denied them that chance.

However, with Telangana out of the picture, they feel that their chances could increase since the rest of Andhra would be polarised and their strengths would increase.

These changing patterns have had a negative impact on the Reddy community who now feel that they need to do everything it takes to protect their bastions. The Reddys had managed a great deal of support in the Telangana region, although the people there blame their leaders for betraying them.

If Telangana is out of the picture the Reddys will have their dominance only in four districts -- Kurnool, Nellore, Ananthpur and Chitoor. The general feeling among them is that they may become politically weak in case Telangana is formed and their battle becomes tougher in Seema-Andhra.

Some say that this sentiment is nothing new and the Reddys always wanted to be part of Telangana. Congress Member of Legislative Assembly J C Divaker Reddy too had once made this famous statement that a Rayal-Andhra should be formed.

While some behind the scene attempts are being made, the people of Telangana say that at any cost they would not allow it.

At the meeting they said that this should not become a subject matter for debate even, since it is diverting the cause. If at all these two districts come into the picture, then the polarisation of the community would begin and the very meaning of forming Telangana would be lost.

They say that these two districts were never a part of the Telangana region and they see no reason why it should be even today.