Amaravati doesn't belong to one community: JAC

Vijayawada: Taking strong exception to the statement of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy that Amaravati belonged to a particular community, Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi Joint Action Committee leaders A Siva Reddy and G Tiriupati Rao said in a letter to Jagan that it was unbecoming of the Chief Minister to cast aspersions and instigate hatred among communities.

Siva Reddy said that the JAC welcomes the proposal of the State government to distribute house sites to the poor people and also build houses for them. However, the Chief Minister's statement hurt the farmers and people of Amaravati. He recalled that Amaravati region is reserved area for scheduled castes where 29,000 farmers sacrificed their 34,323 acres of land for the capital city. He also recalled that as Opposition leader Jagan had earlier welcomed the setting up of the capital city in Amaravati.

"Jagan also stated that he was not interested in instigating hatred among communities," Siva Reddy reminded the Chief Minister and accused him of not keeping his promise.

Siva Reddy pointed out that 80 per cent of 29,000 farmers and farm workers in Amaravati region belonged to the Scheduled Castes, Tribes, backward Classes and Minorities and the YSR Congress MLAs are representing the two Assembly constituencies in the region. Siva Reddy said that 5,000 houses constructed by the previous government were not distributed by the present dispensation to the weaker sections of the region.

G Tirupati Rao said that the Chief Minister was trying to destroy Amaravati by promoting caste politics. With the intention, the government planned to distribute 54,000 house sites to the weaker sections and that was why they approached the judiciary but not against the poor people.

He said that they were only against the violation of the promises made to the farmers of Amaravati by the State government.