Farmer who took part in protest against AP capital shift move

A 65-year old farmer, who took part in the ongoing stir by ryots against the move to shift the Andhra Pradesh capital to Visakhapatnam, died of heart attack with the forum spearheading the agitation holding the state government responsible for it.

Kommineni Mallikarjuna Rao (65), who took an active part in the protests for the past 17 days against the proposed relocation of the capital, suffered a heart attack at his residence in Dondapadu village late on Friday night and was rushed to a hospital.

He died on Saturday morning, according to his nephew.

The Rajadhani Parirakshana Samiti (capital protection committee) that is spearheading the agitation demanding that Amaravati should remain the capital held the state government responsible for the farmers death.

Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu termed the incident 'sorrowful' and condemned the governments 'adamant' stance on the capital issue.

Meanwhile, villages in the Amaravati region observed a bandh on Saturday protesting the alleged police highhandedness on agitating women at Mandadam village on Friday.

Women and children of Mandadam took out a rally while farmers staged dharnas at Undavalli, Tulluru, Velagapudi and other villages.

Villagers of the region debunked the report of Boston Consulting Group that said Amaravati was not fit for development as a capital city.

BCG is fully bogus, the aggrieved farmers, who gave up their 33,000 acres of fertile agricultural lands for the capital, said.

On December 17, Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had mooted the idea of having three capitals for Andhra Pradesh, with the executive capital in Visakhapatnam, legislative capital in Amaravati and judicial capital in Kurnool, spread over the three predominant regions of the state.