TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday alleged that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was deliberately giving a caste colour to the Amaravati issue to realise his “designs” to shift the capital to Visakhapatnam.
Amid high drama marked by heavy presence of police at all vital junctions here, Mr. Naidu launched the Amaravati Parirakshana Samiti rally, which passed through arterial junctions, covering a distance of 1.5 km. Walking along the road, Mr. Naidu collected donations from people. Addressing a public meeting from an open-top vehicle at Nalugukalla Mandapam, Mr. Naidu said though Amaravati, which comprised several Assembly constituencies in Krishna and Guntur districts, had people of all the communities, which included the dominant SC population, Mr. Reddy was branding the region as one that belonged to a particular community.
Dig at Jagan
Repeatedly calling Mr. Reddy as “pichhi Tughlaq,” the TDP chief said that by mooting to shift the capital to Visakhapatnam, the Chief Minister had authored the destruction of the State. “On what grounds is he shifting the capital from Amaravati to Vizag?” Mr. Naidu questioned.
In order to go ahead with his move, Mr. Reddy was deliberately creating hurdles for Amaravati such as “insider trading and risk of inundation,” Mr. Naidu alleged.
Amaravati was well equipped with the Assembly, High Court and Secretariat, and there was no need to shift the capital, he said. Mr. Naidu took time to explain the distance involved in reaching the Port City for the people of Rayalaseema.
Interestingly, Mr. Naidu made a mention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the one who had laid the stone for Amaravati by bringing the “sacred Yamuna waters and earth.”
‘Land deals in Vizag’
Mr. Naidu alleged that Mr. Reddy and YSRCP MP V. Vijaya Sai Reddy hatched a conspiracy to “loot lands in Vizag,” and “this will only send them to jail permanently.” The “destructive politics” being adopted had already led to a serious situation in the State, wherein the investors were backing out of their projects, thus endangering employment generation, he said. Referring to reports of alleged physical attacks on protesting farmers and women in the capital region by the police, Mr. Naidu said the police should introspect on this as people were fighting for a genuine cause. He took a dig at DGP Gautam Sawang saying that he was bent upon creating trouble to the people fighting for Amaravati and was violating Section 144.
