Raking up the three-capital issue is a diversionary tactics of the YSRCP government, senior Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader Ch. Ayyanna Patrudu has said.
“The State is in a financial mess. There is no money to pay salaries on time. There are not enough funds to implement welfare schemes. There is no developmental activity. Most importantly, the State is in a debt trap. To hush up the government’s failures, the Chief Minister has instigated the Ministers and party leaders to rake up the capital issue once again,” Mr. Ayyanna Patrudu told the media on Wednesday.
Questioning the rationale behind the Chief Minister’s decision, the TDP leader said, “It was Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy who had agreed to the proposal of making Amaravati the capital. As Leader of the Opposition, he had gone to the extent of saying that 30,000 acres would not suffice and that more land should be acquired to build a magnificent capital.”
After repealing the relevant Acts and the A.P. High Court giving its verdict, where was the need to bring the capital issue to the fore again if not for diverting the people’s attention, he asked.
Referring to the Ministers’ statements that TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu should be held responsible should there be any law and order problem during the ongoing Amaravati farmers’ Maha Padayatra, Mr. Ayyanna Patrudu said, “Why should Mr. Naidu be held responsible? It is the DGP who should be held responsible. The High Court has clearly stated this in its order.”
“We will welcome the farmers of the Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi with open arms and join them in their padayatra in the North Andhra region. If there is any violence, it is only the handiwork of the YSRCP leaders and cadre as it is they who are trying to incite the people of the region against the farmers,” he said.
Mr. Patrudu recalled that during Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s padayatra in the run-up to the elections, Mr. Naidu, as Chief Minister, had asked him (the R&B Minister then) to repair the roads to ensure that the YSRCP leader did not face any problem. Mr. Naidu had also asked the Health Minister (Kamineni Srinivas) to keep two ambulances and a medical team ready, he said. “That is called leadership,” he added.
Decentralised development
On decentralised development, Mr. Patrudu said there was no need to make Visakhapatnam the Executive Capital to develop it. “If that is the intention, then let the government plan industries and provide jobs,” he said.
The former Minister also criticised the government for “failing to complete projects such as Sujala Sravanthi and Polavaram.”
“Though former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy had laid the stone for the Sujala Sravanthi scheme, it was Mr .Naidu who had sanctioned ₹3,650 crore for it. Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy, after coming to power, had cancelled the tenders and went of reverse tendering. He has not started works on the project so far. So is the case with Polavaram,” he said.
Mr. Patrudu also accused YSRCP Rajya Sabha member V. Vijaya Sai Reddy of indulging in land scam in Visakhapatnam.
Dig at Thammineni
Objecting to Legislative Assembly Speaker Thammineni Seetharam’s comments on the Maha Padayatra, he said, “Being a Speaker, he should restrain from making political comments.”
Taking exception to IT Minister Gudivada Amarnath’s comments against Mr. Naidu, former TDP MLC Buddha Venkanna said that Mr. Amarnath should think twice before making derogatory remarks against the TDP president.
“Mr. Amarnath should know that it was Mr. Naidu who had selected his mother as MLA candidate when YSR had dumped her. He should be grateful for that at least,” Mr. Venkanna said.
Senior party leader Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy and Visakhapatnam (urban) president Palla Srinivas Rao spoke.
