TDP hails 'historic' judgement on capital

Vijayawada: TDP national president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday termed the High Court verdict on Amaravati as a historic and inspirational victory of the Amaravati farmers. He was addressing sarpanches in Mangalagiri this evening.

Naidu said he struggled hard and burnt much midnight oil to plan Amaravati as the capital city of the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh. The foundation laying function for the proposed capital was attended by the Prime Minister and dignitaries from Singapore. It was supposed to be a grand Capital for which the farmers had willingly and voluntarily donated thousands of acres.

But, the ruling YSRCP not only dashed the hopes of the people but also damned the proposed city. The loss sustained by the vengeful moves of the present government was great and would not be recovered easily.

He said the farmers had been waging a relentless fight against the vicious moves of the government that would take away their future. A great fight had now come to a logical end and the verdict was a victory of the people and due credit should be given to them.

Recalling the criticism of YSRCP on Amaravati, Naidu said they had condemned Amaravati from the day of coming to power and started calling it a failure. Even a project like Pattiseema was referred to by them as a failed project. It was unfortunate that politics clouded their vision and he was blamed for everything.

Naidu said that even in Polavaram, Jagan Mohan Reddy made many false allegations of corruption during the TDP regime but he could not prove even a single paisa corruption in the past three years.

Meanwhile, TDP politburo meeting, presided over Chandrababu Naidu welcomed the High Court's verdict on Amaravati, and termed it a big blow to the "ulterior 3 capitals" plan of the Jagan Mohan Reddy government.

The court has upheld the merit and value of the Capital Region Development Authority Act passed by the previous government, the meeting said while welcoming the court's decision to review the development work of the city.

Briefing the media after the meeting, former minister Kalva Srinivasulu said the Jagan Mohan Reddy regime had destroyed the future of the whole state by going ahead with its ill-conceived capital shifting plan in the past three years. As a result, over 136 institutions had stopped investing despite agreements reached with the Chandrababu regime. Over Rs 12,000 crore revenue from Amaravati Capital was also gone.

The Politburo deplored the way Rs 2 lakh crore worth assets and 10,000 acres government land in Amaravati capital had turned into non-performing assets. The meeting hailed the latest CBI probe into the Y S Vivekananda murder and slammed the ruling party leaders for allegedly attempting to mislead people and the probe agencies. Meanwhile, Nara Lokesh, too welcomed the HC verdict on Amaravati and said the government must be ashamed of it now as the order roundly condemned the government for its illegalities.