Amaravati: Farmers of the Amaravati Capital Region in Andhra Pradesh have written to President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking their intervention in the YSR Congress government’s proposal to set up three capitals in the state.
Farmers have been protesting ever since Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy announced last week the government's proposed three-capital formula and an expert panel has submitted a report in this regard. The two places where the government wants to develop as capitals are Vishakhapatnam and Kurnool.
The farmers in their letters have said the government’s decision would impact their lives as they had given 33,000 acres of fertile lands for the ambitious development plan of a new capital after the state’s bifurcation.
“If the state government now comes up with two more capitals and shifts base to Vishakhapatnam and Kurnool, we will suffer huge losses,” one of the letters read. The farmers also attached documents of reports in which Reddy had earlier extended his support to the development of Amaravati.
They urged the prime minister, who had laid the foundation stone for building the new capital, to stop the government from going ahead with proposal.
Opposition leaders, including those belonging to the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Jana Sena Party (JSP), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Communist parties, have extended their support to the farmers’ protest.
Former chief minister and TDP president Chandrababu Naidu accused Reddy of taking a U-turn on the issue.
Speaking to reporters at Anantapuram after a three-day tour of the district, Naidu said, "When the TDP was in power, Reddy had agreed to our moves on Amaravati. He had said at least 30,000 acres should be required to build the capital. After becoming the chief minister, he has taken a complete U-turn. The YSRCP government is creating confusion in the minds of people and farmers by making meaningless comments,” he said.
He said he had wanted to develop Amaravati as a world-class city the way he had done with Hyderabad. “Today, Reddy is taking the state to the path of doom with his flawed policies and incompetence," he added.
BJP spokesperson Lanka Dinakar also hit out at Reddy for his changed stance on the issue. "He is making U-turns over every promise that he had made before the elections. First, he supported the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) in Parliament, now he is saying he is against the National Register of Citizens (NRC)?” said Dinakar.
On Monday, Reddy said his government would support the proposed implementation of the NRC under no circumstances.
(With inputs from Medabayani Balakrishna)
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