BJP President Amit Shah, who will be addressing party’s farmer’s convention in Tadepalligudem on Saturday evening is expected to touch upon the controversy over the Godavari Mega Aqua Food Park (GMAFP) coming up near Bhimavaram, while explaining the Central government’s position on other matters concerning the farmers.
This project assumed a political significant with Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan throwing his weight behind the local people who have been protesting against it on grounds of water pollution and its potential impact on their livelihood. Expressing his solidarity with the farmers and fishermen, he went to the extent of cautioning the TDP government stating
“do not turn tunduru into a nandigram,”
His support to the farmers makes chief minister Chandrababu Naidu panic and announced that “if the food park causes pollution, we will certainly not allow it. But, we are taking steps to lay separate pipelines to let out the waste from the factories directly into the sea.”
Pawan Kalyan is planning to visit the affected villages soon to interact with affected farmers directly. As this is likely to be turned as a major issue of contention in Godavari delta and it was approved by the Union Ministry of Food Processing, BJP sources said that Amit Shah will explain party’s position.
The BJP chief is also expects to touch upon the plight of oil palm farmers who are unable to fetch remunerative price for their produce due to rising cost and massive imports of palm oil from some south-east Asian countries.
