In yet another decision that would obviously attract the Dalit voters, the YSR Congress party government in Andhra Pradesh headed by chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday decided to rename Konaseema district after father of Indian constitution Dr B R Ambedkar.
The state government will issue a preliminary notification later in the day renaming Konaseema district as “Dr B R Ambedkar Konaseema district” hereafter with Amalapuram as the district headquarters.
Konaseema was carved out of the East Godavari district on April 4, 2022 with Amalapuram as the district headquarters as part of reorganisation of 13 districts of Andhra Pradesh into 26.
While Kakinada was another district that was carved out of the East Godavari with Kakinada town as the district headquarters, Rajahmundry was made the district headquarters of the remaining portion of East Godavari district.
There had been several demands for renaming Konaseema after either former Lok Sabha Speaker GMC Balayogi or the architect of Indian Constitution B R Ambedkar. Prominent Kapu leader and former minister Mudragada Padmanabham wrote a letter to this effect to the chief minister twice.
Finally, Jagan chose to rename Konaseema after Ambedkar, instead of Balayogi, who had represented the TDP. The district is dominated by Dalits and Amalapuram constituency is reserved for SCs. So, renaming the district after Ambedkar would naturally fetch mileage to the YSRC!
