Protests, including relay hunger strike, against the ‘three capitals’ proposal continued under the aegis of Amaravati Parirakshana Samiti (APS) at Mandadam, Thullur, Velagapudi, and other villages in Guntur district on the 16th day on Thursday.
The aggrieved farmers and the public said they had no other option but to die as the government took their lands and proposed to shift the capital city to Visakhapatnam in the name of Executive capital leaving thousands of land givers in the lurch.
The protesters demanded that the capital should be retained at Amaravati and warned of intensifying the agitation if the government went ahead with its idea of developing Amaravati, Visakhapatnam and Kurnool as Legislative, Executive and Judicial capitals respectively.
The government appeared to be under the impression that it (having three capitals) was tantamount to decentralisation of development. In fact, it was only decentralisation of administration that would in no way facilitate balanced development of all the regions, the APS activists asserted.
Support to ryots
Meanwhile, TDP leaders Konakalla Narayana (Machilipatnam former MP) and Gottipati Ramakrishna Prasad expressed solidarity with the farmers who are up in arms against the government’s decision to shift the capital city to Visakhapatnam.
On the other side, advocates protested outside the High Court protesting against its shifting to Kurnool.
