advertisement
Weeks after the Andhra Pradesh government officially reorganised the state’s districts on 4 April, it announced that one of them would be named after BR Ambedkar.
Konaseema, carved out of East Godavari district and headquartered at Amalapuram, will now be renamed BR Ambedkar Konaseema district.
A preliminary notification was reportedly issued in this regard by the Andhra Pradesh government on 18 May, Wednesday, inviting any objections or suggestions to the proposed move. As part of the district reorganisation, 26 districts were carved out of the existing 13 districts in the state.
Alluri Sitharama Raju district, comprising the Araku valley region with headquarters at Paderu, was named after the revolutionary leader who was not a tribal man himself but fought the British Raj for the land rights of tribal people.
He had established his base and ashram at Puttaparthi, which is now the district headquarters. Annamayya district, headquartered at Rayachoty, is named after the 15th-century poet, saint and composer Tallapaka Annamacharya.
The names of the previously existing 13 districts remained unchanged. Among them, the Kadapa district was renamed as YSR district to commemorate former Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy after his demise.
Prakasam district is named after Tanguturi Prakasam, the first Chief Minister of the erstwhile Andhra state before it was merged with the Telugu-speaking areas of Hyderabad state in 1956.
(Published in an arrangement with The News Minute.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)