VIJAYAWADA: The ruling YSR Congress and main opposition Telugu Desam are accusing each other for the fate of Amaravati seven years after the foundation for a new capital construction was laid.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone on the banks of River Krishna for Amaravati projected as a world-class capital city on October 22, 2015.
Ruling party leaders claimed that as N. Chandrababu Naidu could not complete Amaravati due to financial problems, the YSRC government was keen on developing Amaravati as the legislative capital.
Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on various occasions reiterated in the Legislative Assembly that his government was not against Amaravati but they were eager to develop it as the legislative capital. Citing that they needed Rs 2 lakh crore to complete Amaravati, he said that within Rs 10, 000 crore Vizag can be developed as the executive capital given the availability of the required resources.
Jagan clarified that decentralized development is their government policy as a means to develop all regions, including backward north Andhra and Rayalaseema.
Ministers Botcha Satyanarayana, Buggana Rajendranath, Ambati Rambabu and A Suresh refuted the allegations of TD and pro-Amaravati leaders that the YSRC government had destroyed the capital city project. They termed Amaravati as a real estate venture of Naidu, which was made worse by insider trading and other illegalities.
They pointed out that Naidu had failed to construct even one permanent structure till 2019. They said that only temporary structures were constructed for the Assembly, Secretariat and High Court while housing complexes for ministers, legislators, higher officials and government employees were all partially done.
They said that regional conflicts are arising due to centralized development at Amaravati and there is a lot of unrest among backward north Andhra and Rayalaseema regions. They said that the huge success of the recent Visakha Garjana amidst heavy rains in Vizag reflected public support for the executive capital proposal.
They said that the YSRC government will go ahead with its three capital moves and accomplish them before the next Assembly elections.
Meanwhile, Naidu on Saturday hoped that Amaravati would breathe again and fulfill the aspirations of five crore public.
He said, “We all wished that Amaravati city would stand as the heartbeat of Andhra Pradesh for at least a thousand years. Everything was ruined because of the Tughlaqian ideas of the rulers (Jagan). The man who welcomed Amaravati before the election had cheated when he came to power. Amaravati will win and this is the final.”
Meanwhile, netizens trolled about the fate of Amaravati terming it as a ‘ghost capital’. The social media platforms took the shape of war zones with YSRC and TD supporters accusing each other for Amaravati sorry state seven years after the foundation was laid.
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