TDP Andhra Pradesh president K. Atchannaidu has said that the Ministers supporting the proposal of setting up three capitals are doing so due to the ‘fear of losing their posts’ and that is why they are attributing motives to the Amaravati farmers’ Maha Padayatra to Arasavalli.
Addressing the media at the party office near Mangalagiri on Monday, Mr. Atchannaidu described the three-capital proposal as a ‘tactic to divert the people’s attention from the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government’s failures’.
“Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy is aware of the discontent brewing among the people. He has realised that he should rake up some issues or the other to cover up his misdeeds. He is trying to stir up of public sentiments in the name of decentralisation,” alleged Mr. Atchannaidu.
Mr. Atchannaidu said that TDP founder and former Chief Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh N.T. Rama Rao was the brain behind the decentralisation, which was continued by N. Chandrababu Naidu. He pointed out that administration was taken to the people’s doorsteps in the name of Prajala Vaddaku Palana.
During the TDP regime, he said, Visakhapatnam was transformed into a technology hub and development was decentralised among districts during those years.
The TDP leader said that it was clear that shifting the capital required an amendment to the Constitution and it was corroborated by the fact that the YSRCP MP V. Vijaya Sai Reddy had moved a private member Bill in the Rajya Sabha, seeking powers to the State government to have multiple capitals.
“If the Chief Minister is keen on setting up three capitals, he should dissolve the Assembly and seek a fresh mandate by considering it as a referendum,” said Mr. Atchannaidu, while asserting that the TDP would go to 2024 elections by including Amaravati as the capital in its manifesto.
