TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday accused the YSRCP government of “doing everything possible to destroy and kill the dream of Amaravati, the people’s capital.”

Addressing people of the 29 villages in the capital region, who had been protesting against the proposed shifting of the capital to Visakhapatnam, Mr. Naidu saluted their fighting spirit, and exhorted them to make it a fight to the finish.

The day marked the completion of 200 days of protests by the people of the Amaravati region.

Mr. Naidu said the occasion also coincided with the 123rd birth anniversary of revolutionary freedom fighter Alluri Sitarama Raju, who had laid down his life to achieve freedom from the autocratic British rule.

Stating that the movement should draw inspiration from the freedom fighter, Mr. Naidu paid tributes to the 66 person who had died while protesting for the cause.

‘Self-financing model’

He said there was no truth in the government’s claim that it would cost ₹1 lakh crore to build Amaravati, and explained that the ‘self-financing’ project would not need any investment, and that it could be fully financed by the income accrued from the sale of land for various development schemes, loans and local taxes.

“Amaravati had a glorious history, and the capital of the Satavahana rulers was a symbol of ancient civilisation,” he said, and referred to the Hindu Mahasabha proposal to build a grand Ram temple here after the one in Ayodhya.

Bifurcation had resulted in deep financial crisis as the State was left with no capital, revenue and jobs, he said.

Appeal to Modi

“We wanted to build a modern capital that did not belong to any one party, or section, but to the people of the State and even the nation,” Mr. Naidu said.

Taking exception to the YSRCP criticising Union Finance Minister Nirmala Seetharaman, Mr. Naidu sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention to stop the proposed shifting of the capital to Visakhapatnam.

Mr. Naidu said that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, when in the Opposition, had extended his support to the construction of the new capital in 30,000 acres, and wondered why he changed his stand now.

‘False propaganda’

“The ruling party is trying to mislead the people by bringing in caste politics, by falsely propagating that the Amaravati region is vulnerable to floods, and by alleging insider trading,” the TDP president alleged.

“Amaravati would have taken a shape by now had the project been taken forward,” he said, adding that 139 institutions, which included universities, hospitals, schools, colleges and other establishments, had come forward to open their units in the new capital.

“They would have generated thousands of jobs and promoted economic activity that could create wealth for the State,” Mr. Naidu observed.

He said the government should respect the sentiments of the people and announce Amaravati as the single and permanent capital of Andhra Pradesh.