Amaravati capital project back in focus

Vijayawada : Following the stellar triumph of the TDP in Assembly elections in the state, the Amaravati capital city project, which was shelved by the outgoing YSRCP government, is now expected to be revived.

As the first chief minister of the bifurcated state between 2014 and 2019, TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu had floated Amaravati as the capital city. The greenfield capital city was envisioned to be an environmentally sustainable one, located between Vijayawada and Guntur cities, covering up to 29 villages.

Naidu had acquired up to 30,000 acre land from farmers for Amaravati capital city construction through land pooling. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken part in its foundation-laying ceremony on October 22, 2015, and former Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao had also attended it. However, this brainchild of Naidu suffered a setback in 2019 when the TDP lost power and YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSRCP won a landslide victory.

Naidu’s successor poured cold water on the Amaravati capital city plans and propounded a new theory of three capitals, which could now become a dead concept now that he has suffered a humiliating defeat in the 2024 polls, whereas Naidu is expected to take over as the CM soon.

The massive victory of the NDA alliance of TDP, BJP and Jana Sena injected new life into Amaravati, which is poised to see brisk activity.

While releasing the election manifesto on April 30 at his Andhra Pradesh residence in Undavalli, Naidu vowed that Amaravati will be developed as the capital city of the state.

Talking to reporters, TDP national general secretary Nara Lokesh, who won from the Mangalagiri Assembly seat, said on June 4 that the incoming government was committed to developing Amaravati as the single capital of the state.

TDP spokesperson Jyothsna Tirunagari said that building Amaravati would be the first priority of the new government. “Amaravati reconstruction is our first priority, there is no doubt about that. We have done a lot of development during our regime (2014-2019). After Jagan Mohan Reddy took over, in fact he destroyed everything and demolished most of the things,” Jyothsna said.

Alleging that roads were dug up during the YSRCP regime, she observed that reconstruction of Amaravati has to be taken up from scratch in some areas except for the Secretariat and the Assembly buildings.

According to the TDP spokesperson, even during the first TDP government in the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh, Amaravati was its priority, which will now see renewed pace and vigour.

Meanwhile, Amaravati farmers who gave lands for the capital city are looking forward with renewed hope on Naidu.

“Our motto is to build Amaravati and save Amaravati. Chandrababu won and Amaravati is saved. After Babu (Chandrababu) won we got a lot of clarity and there will also be Central government’s cooperation,” a woman farmer told a regional news channel.

However, she observed that the farmers who have been agitating for the past five years will continue to agitate until they receive their land leases which have been held up for three years, among other unresolved disputes. Despite several forms of agitation taken up by the farmers who committed their lands for the capital city project, Reddy did not heed their pleas during his tenure, it was pointed out.