BENGALURU: Agitators from
Madanapalle
Jilla Sadhana Samiti (
MJSS
) have demanded that four assembly constituencies in Andhra Pradesh — Madanapalle, Thamballapalle, Punganur, and Piler — be merged with
Karnataka. The group has made a formal request on the matter to
Srinivaspur MLA KR
Ramesh Kumar.
At present, all four constituencies are in AP’s Chittoor district and Madanapalle shares a long border with southeast Karnataka. The MJSS call comes in the backdrop of the Andhra Pradesh government rejecting its demand to make Madanapalle a separate district. The AP government is nearing the March-end deadline set for reforming districts in the state.
The group has been agitating since June 2019. PTM Siva Prasad, convener of MJSS, said that even as AP chief minister
YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has not been responsive to their demand, people from across political parties, including those from Jagan’s YSR Congress Party, either support or sympathise with their movement. Prasad has been leading a group of agitators protesting for the past 697 days. “The four constituencies together have a population of 12-15 lakh. We all want to be separated from Chittoor and have a district of our own,” he said.
MJSS members have corresponded with MLAs and MPs from Karnataka since they began their agitation in 2019. They recently wrote to Ramesh Kumar, whose constituency borders AP and is close to Madanapalle.
Kumar told TOI that he would speak with other state legislators and request the AP chief minister to consider MJSS’ demands. “The welfare of Madanapalle people is imperative to Karnataka. But a merger is far-fetched. Protesters are emotional at the moment,” he said.
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