Farmers hold 300-tractor rally in Pulivendula ahead of ₹1-lakh-crore Rayalaseema horticulture hub launch

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District in-charge Minister S. Savitha drives a tractor, with TDP Pulivendula constituency in-charge B.Tech Ravi beside her, at the farmers’ rally in Pulivendula in Kadapa district on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Farmers drove 300 tractors through Pulivendula in Andhra’s Kadapa district on Wednesday (September 30, 2026) to rally behind the ₹1-lakh-crore Rayalaseema horticulture hub, which will be launched at Madanapalle on October 2. Speakers called the project a ‘game changer’ for the region.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman are to lay the foundation stone for the project, under the banner ‘Rising Rayalaseema’. The Centre will provide ₹40,000 crore under the Purvodaya scheme, and another ₹60,000 crore is expected from private investment, to develop, sustain and protect orchards on a large scale in the region.

The farmers took out the rally to thank the Chief Minister for the announcement and to express solidarity with the cause.

Minister for BC Welfare S. Savitha, who is also the district in-charge Minister, flagged off the rally and took part in it.

Calling farmers crucial to the project’s success, she asked members of the horticulture clusters to create awareness of its benefits among fellow farmers. She urged the 3,000 farmers in the district’s 30 horticulture clusters to attend the Madanapalle event.

Farmers drive their tractors through Pulivendula in Kadapa district on Wednesday, in a rally ahead of the launch of the Rayalaseema horticulture hub on October 2. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Collector Sridhar Cherukuri appealed to the farmers to participate in the event in large numbers, not just as a symbol of solidarity but also to understand the intricacies involved in cultivation, water management, cold storage, value addition, export potential and marketing opportunities.

TDP Pulivendula constituency in-charge Mareddy Ravindranath Reddy, also known as B.Tech Ravi, praised Mr. Naidu and his deputy, K. Pawan Kalyan, for using schemes such as the Jal Jeevan Mission and AMRUT to provide drinking water to 299 villages.

“Though this very constituency of Pulivendula gave two Chief Ministers to the State, they could do little to wipe the tears of the aggrieved horticultural farmers,” he said, recalling that it was Mr. Naidu who had brought water into the Chitravati from the Paidipalem and Gandikota reservoirs to irrigate the backward and arid constituency.

The TDP has never won Pulivendula since 1983, but the NDA government had not discriminated against the constituency in ensuring its development, he said.

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