Legal action alone will ensure that the State capital is retained in Amaravati, former MP J.C. Diwakar Reddy has said.
“Except for the YSRCP, no political party is in favour of shifting the capital to Visakhapatnam. Even people in general are against the move,” Mr. Diwakar Reddy told The Hindu on Thursday.
In his own inimitable style, Mr. Diwakar Reddy, likening the Secretariat to the human brain, said, “Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy is trying to keep the hands, the legs and the heart in Amaravati and shift the brain to Visakhapatnam.”
Referring to Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s insider trading charge, the TDP leader said that even if it were to be true, people in general were not in any way affected by it. “At the most, 200 persons may have benefited to the tune of ₹10,000 crore,” he observed.
Had Visakhapatnam been named the capital in 2014 itself, none would have had any problem, he said. But people would not welcome the shift at this stage, he added.
Need of the hour
“One of the best legal luminaries will fight against the unwelcome move,” Mr. Diwakar Reddy said, and stressed the need for decentralisation of economic activity, and not decentralisation of administration, or seat of power.
“When the TDP government brought KIA Motors to Anantapur, the areas in a radius of 45-km witnessed development. Every district, therefore, has to get such companies, which generate revenue and spur economic activity locally,” he observed.
“Many YSRCP MLAs too are against the move to shift the capital to Visakhapatnam. But they are unable to speak their mind because of the party’s stand,” Mr. Diwakar Reddy claimed.
Asked if he still batted for Greater Rayalaseema, Mr. Diwakar Reddy said that time had not yet come to take the issue forward.
“The State government may have the right to decide the location of the capital, but the Centre will not cooperate,” Mr. Diwakar Reddy said, and added that the going would be tough if Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy insisted on shifting the capital.
