BJP State president Somu Veerraju has said that the Central government will not meddle with the State’s policy decision on the development of the capital city.
Addressing the media during his maiden visit to New Delhi on Thursday after being appointed as the State party president, Mr. Veerraju pointed out that there were no instances in the past of the Centre’s involvement in the setting up of various capital cities.
Mr. Veerraju said the Central government had kept quiet when the former Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, exaggerated the development of Amaravati by drawing unfair comparisons with the opulent capital cities of some countries.
The Centre would maintain a similar stand of not intervening in the matter of the three capitals mooted by Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
However, he insisted that injustice should not be done to the thousands of farmers who had given their multi-cropped lands under the pooling scheme for the development of Amaravati.
Mr. Veerraju said the TDP was trying to drag the BJP into the capital controversy, and described the comments purportedly made by Mr. Naidu that some BJP leaders were looking to strike a chord with him, as a part of his political game.
He further said that his party would make its own moves in the game of chess being played by Mr. Naidu with all seriousness warranted by the situation.
Rajya Sabha member G.V.L. Narasimha Rao and party’s A.P. affairs in-charge Sunil Deodhar also spoke.
It may be recalled that the BJP-Jana Sena combine had expressed its resolve to wage a legal battle against the proposed shifting of the capital from Amaravati while endorsing the idea of relocating the High Court in Kurnool by insisting that it had been a long-pending demand of the Rayalaseema region.