Centre has key role to save Amaravati: Ex-Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu

VIJAYAWADA: Asserting that Amaravati will be an asset to the State and the onus of protecting it lies on all sections of people, TDP supremo and Leader of the Opposition N Chandrababu Naidu sought to know why Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has so much hatred towards the capital city.

The TDP chief was addressing a virtual press conference on Friday. Admitting that he doesn’t have a magic wand to create wonders to dissuade the government from ruining the Amaravati project, he said that he was seeking the support of the people with a hope that dharma will prevail in the end.

Reiterating that the Centre has a responsibility to intervene and stop capital shifting in the larger interests of people, he pointed out that when the PPAs of solar companies were cancelled, the Centre interfered. In the case of Amaravati also, similar MoUs were signed with farmers to acquire 30,000 acres of land.

He observed that if they were made to suffer now, this would lead to a trust deficit and no farmer would come forward to give land for any future project in the country.

Maintaining that decentralised development in all the three regions of the State is possible only with the help of a centrally-located capital city like Amaravati, he said that while 132 projects were started in Amaravati, 160 projects were launched simultaneously in all the 13 districts from Srikakulam to Anantapur.

Five clusters were visualised under the Visakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor and another three clusters were planned under Chennai-Bangalore Industrial Corridor. Three mega cities, 14 smart cities, three international airports and ports were on the anvil, he said.Naidu also took exception to the YSRC leaders attributing caste to him.

Playing the video clippings of the ruling party leaders, Naidu said that from the Chief Minister to ministers, all YSRC leaders had assured that they would not shift the capital. But, now they were not even coming forward to accept the TDP challenge to go for a fresh mandate on the three-capital plan. The YSRC leaders have cheated the people of the State with their double standards, he alleged.He also found fault with the government for not telecasting the ground-breaking ceremony in Ayodhya live on the TTD-run TV channel, SVBC.