The draft notification issued by the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government on the formation of 13 new districts and naming of some districts after prominent personalities has kicked up a Pandora’s Box.
The chief minister decided to name newly-formed Vijayawada district as N T Rama Rao district, after the legendary actor and Telugu Desam Party founder, obviously to score a political point over his rival N Chandrababu Naidu.
But, it has led to the demand for naming of the neighbouring district after Akkineni Nageshwara Rao, another doyen of Telugu cinema.
Both NTR and ANR were contemporaries in the Telugu film industry and there was a health competition between the two actors who reigned supreme in the industry till early ‘80s. The fans of both the actors were also competing with each other during their period.
So, if a district is named after NTR, naturally ANR’s fans also want another district to be named after him. On Friday, ANR fans’ association demanded that Machilipatnam be named as ANR district.
They pointed out that ANR was born at Ramapuram village of Gudivada mandal and he had contributed a lot for the development of Gudivada. They said it was ANR who played a major role in the shifting of Telugu film industry from Madras to Hyderabad.
“He made immense contribution to the film industry and won several awards. It is very apt to name Machilipatnam as ANR district. With NTR and ANR districts being adjacent to each other, it will enhance the image of the state,” they argued.
There are several other such demands from various sections of people. There is a demand to make Penukonda the district headquarters a new district named after Sri Krishnadevaraya.
In some areas, the reorganisation has led to protests. On Saturday, an all-party committee called for a bandh of Hindupur in protest against the shifting of district headquarters from Hindupur to Puttaparthy.
Film actor and TDP MLA Nandamuri Balakrishna has sought Hindupur as the headquarters the new district based on its geographical importance.