Santosh Patnaik
VISAKHAPATNAM
CPI (M) politburo member B.V. Raghavulu on Sunday ridiculed the three capitals idea floated by YSR Congress Party and said it was wrong to presume that the establishment of Executive Capital in Visakhapatnam would lead to the development of backward areas of North Coastal Andhra Pradesh.
Addressing a press conference here, he said the CPI (M) was totally against decentralisation of administration, calling for the location of Secretariat and Assembly at one place. If required, the judiciary could be decentralised for the convenience of the general public.
‘Will give a capital in ₹ 5k crore’
Mr. Raghavulu disagreed with the contention of the YSR Congress Party leaders that the development of capital at Amaravati would entail a huge burden on the exchequer needing an investment of over ₹ 1 lakh crore, he said, “Give me ₹ 5,000 crore. I will give you all the infrastructure required for a capital at Mangalagiri near Amaravati.”
He said Visakhapatnam had developed without the location of any capital and blamed Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy for not opposing the attempts to privatise Visakhapatnam Steel Plant by giving away about ₹ 5,000 acres to POSCO for forming a joint venture.
Ulterior motive behind the plan
To a question, he said ‘insider trading’ had been taking place since 1991 in undivided Andhra Pradesh and later in the post-bifurcation phase by the people close to the corridors of power, and attributed an ulterior motive behind the three capitals plan.
“I fail to understand how the Assembly and Chief Minister’s office will be located in Amaravati when Secretariat and a camp office of the CM are proposed in Visakhapatnam. It is always natural to locate both Secretariat and CM’s office at one place for administrative and logistic convenience,” he contended.
Hold a debate
The CPI (M) leader said if Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy was keen to shift the capital lock stock and barrel to Visakhapatnam, let him hold a debate and only after arriving at a consensus should he go ahead with the proposal.
‘Hindu Rashtra’
Accusing the BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre for its pro-Hindu approach to form a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ without declaring it officially, he said while allowing five lakh Hindu immigrants to take Indian citizenship, discrimination was being meted out to minorities by denying citizenship to seven lakh Muslims.
Treat Aadhaar as citizenship proof
“Instead of a National Population Register and National Register of Citizens, the NDA Government should treat Aadhaar as a proof of citizenship,” Mr. Raghuvulu averred.
CPI (M) State Secretariat member Ch. Narsing Rao and city president B. Ganga Rao were present.
