Parallel to the Telangana demand, leaders in Rayalaseema have also been demanding a separate state or at least special rights and concessions which include special drinking water and irrigation projects.

Congress MP from Kurnool, K. Suryaprakash, who supports the Rayalseema Hakkula Ikya Vedika (RHIV), which the demand for separate Rayalseema, says Nellore and Prakasam districts should be merged into Rayalaseema to form a separate state. Not only that, they want Bellary in neighbouring Karnataka as well. “Before any decision is taken on Telangana we want Rayalaseema to be declared a separate state or we will launch an agitation. For more than 50 years we have sacrificed for the benefit of Telangana and Andhra—90 per cent of the region is still rain-fed and crops fail every other year” according to the fiery MP. He claims that there is a groundswell of support for a separate Rayalaseema ever since the Telangana issue loomed large.

T. G. Venkatesh, president of RHIV, says that in case Telangana becomes a state, Rayalseema should at least be given the option of joining either Telangana or Andhra Pradesh. On August 28, the Vedika released a charter of 28 demands including a separate state. Rayalseema is home to almost all major political leaders of Andhra Pradesh including the present CM, Y. S. R. Reddy, who hails from Kadapa district and N. Chandrababu Naidu, who is from Chitoor.

Adding fuel to the fire is K Chandrasekhar Rao, president of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS). He says “Telangana state should be created based on the boundaries of the erstwhile Nizam state in Telugu-speaking areas,” something sure to raise the hackles in Telugu-speaking regions. “We want Telangana as it was before November 1, 1956. Which means all the regions under the former Hyderabad state,” says TRS ideologue K Jayashankar. Telengana currently consists of nine districts and Hyderabad.

... contd.