The Centre will not intervene in the decision of the Jagan Mohan Reddy government to shift the capital out of Amaravati, to Visakhapatnam, said Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders GVL Narasimha Rao and Kanna Lakshminaryana.
Addressing a joint press conference in New Delhi on Tuesday, they said in a federal system, the Centre would not intervene as the proposed shifting of the capital was a State issue. “The BJP is not a control freak, the party believes in democratic norms,” they said.
Joint action plan
The leaders slammed Mr. Jagan for claiming that his decision had the Centre’s support. They said the BJP, along with the Jana Sena Party (JSP) would chalk out a joint action plan for a sustained protest programme in the State against the decision.
The leaders said that the BJP was wedded to decentralisation of development and that the party was in favour of the High Court’s location in Kurnool. Given a chance, they said, the BJP would give top priority to the development of north Andhra and Rayalaseema.
Mr. Narasimha Rao said former Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president Chandrababu Naidu, had ignored the advice of the Sivaramakrishnan Committee and went ahead with his plans to set up the capital in Amaravati, but the Centre did not get in the way of his decision.
He accused both the TDP and the YSRCP of working for selfish gain. Referring to the YSRCP allegation that TDP leaders were involved in insider trading in Amaravati, the Member of the Rajya Sabha asked what prevented the Jagan government from booking the culprits and initiate probe against them. He wondered “if both regional parties are shielding each other.”
He faulted Mr. Naidu’s claim that pooling of 33,000 acres land from Amaravati farmers was a great achievement and said the former had failed to construct even five permanent structures.
Mr. Lakshminarayana predicted that people would “dump” Mr. Jagan in the 2024 elections just the way they did Mr. Naidu in the last elections.
He found fault with allocation of funds to the tune of ₹1,400 crore to Idupulapaya in the CM’s native Kadapa district. “He could have allocated at least ₹700 crore to the north Andhra region,” the BJP leader said.
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