TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday called ‘historic’ the protracted struggle by the Amaravati Joint Action Committee (JAC) and the Dalit JAC activists, in support of their demand that Amaravati be allowed to continue as the single capital of the State.
In a statement, Mr. Naidu said the farmers’ agitation had completed 600 days and that the JACs were engaged in a prolonged battle against the ‘suppressive acts of the YSRCP government in the State’.
He said despite constant efforts by the ruling party to stifle the agitators, the ‘Save Amaravati’ slogan was gaining popularity. “The farmers’ agitation will go down in history as a struggle for a noble cause,” he said. The farmers of the region had sacrificed their ancestral lands and properties of more than 32,323 acres for construction of a world-class capital at Amaravati, keeping in view the bright future of the State and its people. The plan was to build the State Assembly, Secretariat, High Court, State and Central institutions and residential complexes here and to create a wealth of more than ₹2 lakh crore from the over 10,000 acres of spare land left with the State government. “But the YSRCP government unleashed politics of vendetta and destroyed this people’s wealth,” he alleged.
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‘Investments withdrawn’
The TDP chief said over 139 institutions had withdrawn their investments in Amaravati after seeing the ‘destructive activities’ of the ruling party. Consequently, thousands of job opportunities were lost for the local youth while ₹2 lakh crore wealth had turned into non-performing assets, Mr. Naidu alleged and attributed the current financial crisis in the State to the government’s ‘adverse’ stand on Amaravati as the capital city.
He alleged that as part of a vicious scheme, the ruling party maligned Amaravati as a flood-prone capital and made allegations of insider trading but failed to provide any proof, a fact that even the Supreme Court had declared in its verdict, he said. In their desperation, the ruling party now tried to portray the Amaravati struggle as a caste-based one, he said.
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But the YSRCP leaders would be disappointed this time too, as Amaravati was inhabited by people of all castes and communities, he said.
The TDP chief said that the government should realise its mistake and restart the construction of Amaravati as per the original master plan. “If the Chief Minister is genuinely interested in the future development of the State and well-being of the people here, he should translate into reality the master plan for grooming Amaravati as an international city,” he said.