The Joint Action Committee of the Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi staged a protest in the city on Thursday against Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s idea of having three capital cities in the State – Amaravati, Visakhapatnam and Kurnool.
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Members of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Jana Sena, Telugu Desam Party and several students, traders, employees and business unions as well participated in the protests and opposed the idea of having Amaravati, Visakhapatnam and Kurnool as the Legislative, Executive and Judicial capitals respectively. Slogans such as, ‘One State one capital,’ ‘Save Amaravati’, and ‘Save Andhra Pradesh,’ were raised by several protesters.
‘It is against law’
Rajya Sabha member Kanakamedala Ravindra of TDP said that State government’s idea to shift capital is impossible as the law would not allow it.
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“Post bifurcation of united Andhra Pradesh, even Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy accepted that the capital city should be built in Amaravati. He has betrayed the trust of all the Telugu people with this announcement,” he said.
“All of us will fight to ensure that the capital stays in Amaravati. A lot of people, especially farmers, trusted the government to build the capital on their lands. We will not move back on our promise and ensure that the capital remains in Amaravati,” he added.
Former Water Resources Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao condemned the idea of the Chief Minister and said the farmers would be most affected by this plan since they gave up their lands for develpoment of the capital. He said that unlike this government, the former TDP-led government in the State sought the approval of everybody to establish the capital in Amaravati.
“This government is going ahead with the recommendations of the G.N. Rao committee without even holding discussions. We will intensify our protest if the State government, at its Cabinet meeting on Friday, decides to go ahead with the idea of establishing three capitals,” said Mr. Rao.
Call to people
Mr. Rao also urged the residents to observe an electricity blackout for five minutes from 8 p.m. to oppose, what he called, one of the darkest days of the State.
BJP leader Velagapudi Gopala Krishna said that the party would stage a silent protest at the site of the foundation stone of Amaravati, on Friday. Communist Party of India State secretary, too, expressed his solidarity with the agitators and demanded that the government withdraw its idea.