KE creates a ruffle over capital land

Dy CM first announces hike in land prices in Vijayawada; later, he retracts the statement

• Naidu seems to have pulled up KE and hence the retraction
• A sub-committee is looking into the price of land in the new capital

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Minister for Revenue and deputy chief minister KE Krishnamurthy created a ruffle by announcing hike in the market prices of land in Vijayawada and its surroundings, where the new capital of Andhra Pradesh is to be located, and withdrawing his statement with equal speed in the form of a hand written statement.

Krishnamurthy at a press conference on Wednesday said there was no proposal to hike the market prices of land in any part of the State except in Vijayawada and its surroundings where the capital city would come up. He also stated that no order was issued to ban registration in Krishna and Guntur districts. Though senior officers were present at the press conference no one corrected him nor did they intervene to give any clarification at that point of time. About an hour later, the Deputy Chief Minister’s office hurriedly searched for the media representatives and made hectic phone calls saying that there was a correction to the statement made by Krishnamurthy. Sources said as the news about the government’s decision to hike the land price was flashed, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu called him up and chided for making such a statement. Naidu reportedly told Krishnamurthy that a cabinet sub-committee was formed to deal with the land issue of which he was not a member and wanted to know how and why he made such a statement. At the press conference, Krishnamurthy parried questions on opting out of the cabinet committee and tried to justify, stating that two separate committees comprising revenue officials were formed and this committee would submit a report on all issues pertaining to land acquisition, market rates of the land etc.