Former Water Resources Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao launched a 24-hour deeksha (fast) to protest against the proposal to have three separate Legislative, Executive and Judicial capitals, at Gollapudi Centre here on Tuesday.
The former Minister who started his fast at 11 a.m. on Tuesday will continue the same till 11 a.m. on Wednesday.
Addressing a gathering from the dais, Mr. Umamaheswara Rao said it was a pity Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was not even taking a peek at the farmers of 29 villages from Amaravati area even though they were protesting against the three different capitals.
He said that some people connected with the YSR Congress Party government tried to block floodwaters flowing in Krishna river with the intention of flooding Amaravati area, but their ploy did not work.
The people of Amaravati stayed up all night to prevent people with vested interests from breaching the Krishna River flood banks to flood Amaravati area, he claimed.
Mr. Umamaheswara Rao charged that the prime objective behind sabotaging Amaravati was to benefit Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao.
Mr. Umamaheswara Rao recalled how Mr. Jagan who was the then Leader of the Opposition refused to come to the function organised to the lay the foundation stone of the new capital. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and all the important people in the country attended the function, but not Mr. Jagan, he said.
Mr. Jagan called Amaravati names during his public meetings, Mr Umamaheswara Rao pointed out.
