Tourism Minister Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao has alleged that Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N. Chandrababu Naidu was trying to divide people by fanning caste, religious and regional differences among them to ‘achieve his selfish goals’.
“At a time when the YSRCP government is trying to ensure development of the three regions in the State, Mr. Naidu is only worried about his vested interests in Amaravati,” Mr. Srinivasa Rao told the media here on Monday.
Guest house row
He said the government issued a G.O. on July 2 for construction of State guest houses in Visakhapatnam and three other cities, alleging that a propaganda was launched claiming that the foundation stone for the proposed executive capital was being secretly laid in Visakhapatnam.
Refuting the allegations that a guest house would be constructed at the Buddhist heritage site at Thotlakonda, the Minister said, “The proposed site is outside the purview of the protected monument. Attempts are being made to incite Dalits by the claims that the Buddhist heritage site is under threat.”
He further said that the former Chief Minister had failed to construct a single government guest house anywhere in the State and a lot of public money was wasted on hotel bills during the TDP’s tenure.
Mr. Srinivasa Rao alleged that Mr. Naidu had spent ₹2,000 crore, given by the Centre, on the construction of temporary buildings at Amaravati.
Condemning the statement of Narsapuram MP K. Raghu Ramakrishna Raju that a guest house was being built on the premises of the Buddhist site, the Minister said the government is committed to protecting the historical sites and monuments.“The MP is reading out the script prepared by Mr. Naidu,” he alleged.
Pointing out that Visakhapatnam has all the infrastructure required for setting up the executive capital, the Minister said the TDP could only stop it temporarily, but not for ever.
Dig at Pawan
He also took a dig at Jana Sena Party (JSP) president Pawan Kalyan and the Left parties, saying that they were treating Visakhapatnam and north Andhra only as vote banks and opposing every move aimed at the development of the region.
