Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development Botcha Satyanarayana on Monday ridiculed Telugu Desam Party chief and former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s demand that elections be held to gauge public support for the government’s three-capitals decision.
“Mr. Naidu seems to have lost his mental balance. Elections were held only 16 months ago. Voters of Mangalagiri and Thadikonda constituencies, which fall in the capital region, have given their verdict on the ‘capital design’ of Mr. Naidu,” Mr. Satyanarayana said.
The Minister wondered whether Mr. Naidu was aware that the voters of the capital region had voted against the “irregularities committed in the name of Amaravati capital and land pooling”. His son had also had to suffer a crushing defeat in the election, he said, challenging Mr. Naidu to ask MLAs, MLCs and MPs of the TDP to resign and seek a fresh electoral verdict if he indeed wanted elections again.
‘Credibility lost’
Mr. Satyanarayana said he dared Mr. Naidu to accept his challenge and give a reply within 48 hours if he had faith in himself. He said that Mr. Naidu had lost his credibility by opposing decentralisation and his moral right to step into Visakhapatnam and north Andhra.
He alleged that by opposing the ‘judicial capital’ in Rayalaseema, Mr. Naidu had not only backstabbed his own father-in-law N.T. Rama Rao but also his native place. He said that the TDP president, who was opposing the move to establish three capitals in the State, should also remember that one of the three capitals was Amaravati.
