Hyderabad: Telugu Desam Party’s (TDP) Repalle MLA Anagani Satya Prasad on Wednesday said that the Andhra Pradesh government’s act of allegedly removing the chapter on the capital Amaravati city from textbooks is ‘unpardonable’.
Addressing a press conference, Satya Prasad said that chief minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s government was “resorting to silly activities” out of sheer frustration over its inability to shift the capital city even an inch in the past two and half years.
“While Amaravati would continue to be a ‘People’s Capital’ and a symbol of Andhra pride, the YSRCP rule would go down in history as a dark phase and a black spot,” he remarked.
The TDP MLA while addressing the media deplored that the capital city farmers, women and youth have been agitating for the past 650 days against the ruling YSR Congress Party’s move to decentralise the capital between Visakhapatnam, Amaravati and Kurnool.
Satya Prasad added that the chief minister was going on pursuing his “narrow-minded agenda” on the issue. “Five crore people were suffering for the sake of one person’s vicious plans. Amaravati was planned in such a way that it would have connectivity to all corners of the state,” he added.
Furthermore, Prasad claimed that Amaravati was a self-sustainable project with huge potential to usher in development in all parts of Andhra Pradesh. “Already, the high court to AP, secretariat, assembly and such complexes were constructed and made available in Amaravati during the previous government,” he added.
The TDP MLA recalled how CM Jaganmohan Reddy had given his categorical support for Amaravati when he was the opposition leader until the 2019 elections. “He made a statement on the floor of the Assembly itself that he was welcoming Amaravati. Chief minister Jagan should explain to the public why he has reversed his stand,” Satya Prasad stated.
Moreover, Prasad alleged that the Capital city project works were stopped despite the Central Government providing funds for it. He asserted that TDP would bring pressure on the Government to restore the chapter on Amaravati in the textbooks.
During the previous TDP government in AP post its bifurcation from Telangana, former AP chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had begun construction of Amaravati as a new capital for Andhra Pradesh. He had envisioned a city on the lines of Singapore, and drew up plans to include a startup hub in it as well. The previous TDP government even took about 33,000 acres of land from farmers for the same.
However, after the YSRCP government came into power, under chief minister the government changed track and decided to decentralise the capitals between three places.